Mike McCarthy and Joe Brady have little in common.
McCarthy, hired as the fourth head coach of the Steelers (his hometown team) since 1969, is an 18-year veteran who has coached the Packers and Cowboys and won a Super Bowl coaching the Packers against the Steelers.Brady, hired by the Bills to replace Sean McDermott, is a young coach who will become a head coach for the first time.
But they have one thing in common. They are taking over teams with large fan bases who aren’t into rebuilding and want to win now. Which puts a lot of pressure on both coaches.
Sean McDermott was fired because he kept getting the Bills to the playoffs but kept falling short of the Super Bowl. Brady has been the team’s offensive coordinator the last two years and by staying in house, the Bills’ message was that it doesn’t need an overhaul.
Buffalo already has one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Josh Allen and just needs a coach to get them over the top. The Pegula family that owns the team not only kept general manager Brandon Beane but promoted him to be the president of football operations. So anything less than a Super Bowl will be a disappointment, especially since the Bills have yet to win one although they lost four in a row in the 1990s.
By contrast, the Steelers have won six Super Bowls and Tomlin never had a losing season but also hasn’t won a won a playoff game since 2016 and won only one Super Bowl. Like Bills fans, they want to win a Super Bowl. Many weren’t thrilled with his hiring because they wanted a younger guy but he may win them over because he is a Pittsburgh native and got emotional at his first press conference talking about how it was special for him to coach the Steelers. But he faces more of a rebuilding job than Brady does even though he said the cupboard isn’t bare.
Although McCarthy is not expected to win a Super Bowl his first year, the fans will want at least a playoff victory. So they both face expectations to win now.
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