Why did the Pittsburgh Steelers settle on Mike McCarthy?

I have some theories.

When word first surfaced that the Pittsburgh Steelers were interviewing Mike McCarthy for their head-coaching job following Mike Tomlin’s resignation, my first instinct was to not take it seriously. It just did not seem like their type of move. They do not hire head coaches often, but when they do there is a very specific template they look for in the search.

Young guy that can be there for the long haul.

An assistant coach that has not previously built up bad habits or failed with another team.

Defensive minded.

Some of the candidates on their initial list of people they talked to fit that mold (Chris Shula from the Los Angeles Rams, Jesse Minter from the Los Angeles Chargers, Anthony Weaver from the Miami Dolphins).

McCarthy could not be more of a polar opposite from all of that. He is 62 years old and is not likely to coach as long as any of the previous three Steelers head coaches (Tomlin, Bill Cowher or Chuck Noll). He has been a head coach for two other franchises (Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers). He has an offensive background and not a defensive background.

Nothing fits.

The McCarthy interviewed seemed like them just doing a favor to a local guy that they respected. Get his name out there. Help him build up some connections. Maybe even just get some insights from him to help them in their search for somebody else.

In the end, the original McCarthy interview should have been taken very, very seriously. Not only were they legitimately interested in him, if you put the puzzle pieces together of how they did things he seemed to be the only guy they were seriously interested in.

They only brought in three candidates for in-person interviews: McCarthy, Weaver and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Weaver and Flores satisfied their in-person Rooney Rule requirements. They brought in nobody else after McCarthy before offering the job and hiring him.

The simply wanted him.

That seemed … uninspiring. Maybe a little lazy? The process behind it just seemed flawed.

The biggest overall question remained why they wanted him so badly.

There are, to me, a few logical explanations for this.

The first is that he worked cheap and they simply liked the idea of selling a Pittsburgh guy to the fan-base, while also understanding he could at least maintain the status quo of keeping them competitive.

The second is that they see the recent success of other “retread” head coaches and think they can duplicate that with McCarthy.

The third is that Art Rooney II is lost in his role as primary decision-maker, has lost the plot on what his father and grandfather wanted the team to be, and does not really know what he is doing.

It could be all three.

Let’s talk about it a little, including the second point, with a deep dive into all of the NFL’s head-coaching hires since the start of the 2010 season. There have been a lot of them. Most of them have failed. How do hires like McCarthy do in comparison to the rest?

Let’s talk about it.