Steelers blew it with Klint Kubiak

[TimmayLake]

Now that it's official that he's leaving to coach the Raiders, how much do we regret not even interviewing Klint Kubiak for the HC job?

[Ice]

Guess it depends on how you define "we."

How much will the fans regret it? He's got a huge challenge in front of him rebuilding a Raiders team that hasn't been good in a long time, in a division with a murderer's row of teams, at least in the regular season. He's going to start this year as the 4th best coach with the 4th best QB, though if Mendoza is the real deal, that could change things a bit for him. If he fails in Vegas? We'll probably not be too sad we didn't go that way. If he succeeds, we'll be kicking ourselves.

Will Rooney and Co. regret it? No. They did things their way.

[DumlinBumlinStumlin]

It’s their way or the highway

Seems they like the highway full of Potholes time and time again

[swissvale72]

Yeah, let's see how Kubiak does as HC

[langer]

He'll be out of the league in a year, maybe two.

[TimmayLake]

He'll be out of the league in a year, maybe two.

Yes, I agree McCarthy will be sitting on his couch again, permanently, in a year or two.

[Stlcrtn1974]

Maybe he told the Steelers no thanks

[Ice]

Maybe he told the Steelers no thanks

I'm going to wonder about this one. How many of the younger, more promising candidates interviewed didn't like what they were hearing about their roles from management? The "current state of the roster" was an early question, supposedly, which I assume meant they felt like they were contender-adjacent, and didn't want to hear about big changes. Keeping the 34, etc. I can't say I'd want to buy into that without at least getting to know some of the aging vets I'd be hitching myself to.

[Stosh-67]

Another thought if he fails in LV.....
These new young coaches go to teams that fired their coach because the teams were terrible or very bad.
Bad for a while.
Bad roster, coaching or both.
And its a lose lose HC gig many times.

look at Vrabel......first stint was heading in the right direction.........not a great ending in Tenn.
Some HC experience under his belt.
He was 9-7, 9-7, 11-5 and 12-5 in first 4 seasons....
before 7-10 and 6-11 seasons
54-45 in 6 seasons ...

A guy I wish was a possible MT replaccement a year agao.

But Vrabel took over a TENN team that was 9-7 the year before.

KK is not taking over a very good team....and yeah...in a tuff division.
going 1 and 5 in that divivison will be tuff....hence he could probably bank 5 losses.
I believe the Raiders also play outside their division in 2026...Bills, Rams, Seahawks, Patriots and 49ers.....lol.

Maybe Klint Kubiak has that same path, and a second stint aligns with McCarthy retiring?

[Jobu]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this Kubiak was never on the Steelers radar, IIRC. They had some interest in his brother.
But let’s face it…A2 knew he was hiring McCarthey five minutes after Tomlin walked out his door…

[Dan Smith--BYU]

Same with McDermott

I don't mind McCarthy but those two were worth talking to

[TimmayLake]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this Kubiak was never on the Steelers radar, IIRC. They had some interest in his brother.
But let’s face it…A2 knew he was hiring McCarthey five minutes after Tomlin walked out his door…

If true, why the F not?

[Jobu]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this Kubiak was never on the Steelers radar, IIRC. They had some interest in his brother.
But let’s face it…A2 knew he was hiring McCarthey five minutes after Tomlin walked out his door…

If true, why the F not?

A2 knew he was hiring McCarthey five minutes after Tomlin walked out his door…

[TimmayLake]

Guess a young, innovative, and now Super Bowl winning offensive mind was too extreme for the Steelers to consider. Must stick to paleolithic 4 TE centric offense.

[swissvale72]

Guess a young, innovative, and now Super Bowl winning offensive mind was too extreme for the Steelers to consider. Must stick to paleolithic 4 TE centric offense.

I think one thing we know for sure, given McCarthy's historic preferences is that it will NOT be a "4 TE centric offense."

[955876]

But let’s face it…A2 knew he was hiring McCarthey five minutes after Tomlin walked out his door…

Guarantee this is 100% true.

Dunce Rooney is a lazy coward.

[langer]

He'll be out of the league in a year, maybe two.

Yes, I agree McCarthy will be sitting on his couch again, permanently, in a year or two.

Have you seen how the Raiders treat HCs?

Who in their right mind would want that job.

[Stosh-67]

Guess a young, innovative, and now Super Bowl winning offensive mind was too extreme for the Steelers to consider. Must stick to paleolithic 4 TE centric offense.

I think one thing we know for sure, given McCarthy's historic preferences is that it will NOT be a "4 TE centric offense."

Probably not as TE centric as Smith...

I do not think he will have the constant in and out of 4 TEs...like Arthur.
Mooth Darnell and Smith all had over 500 snaps....Connor had 90.

But I can see Mooth getting back into the 60 catch range........and may have a career year under McCarthy. 70-75+ catches.

And maybe Darnell slims a bit and also has a bump in production.
He can not continue to catch turn and run into 3-4 guys like a battering ram ............and expect to play a whole season. Tho fun to watch.

Lets hope they move on from Jonnu and little Heyward.
Unless Cam will put the same spell on MM and his influence still keeps his bro on the roster.
A 5th season of Connor Heyward taking a roster spot was the mentality that held this team from using depth for guys with potential starter upside....from filling out the roster with promiss.

And since they have 12 draft picks, I would expect them to replace Smith and Heyward with a mid round TE and probably a late TE....6th or 7th.
They need a move TE.

I love how the Rams have constructed their TE room.
Colby Parkenson.
Tyler Higbee.
Terrance Ferguson
Davis Allen.

6'-7", 6'-6", 6'-6", 6'-5"

They all had a good amount of snaps. CP and DA both had around 600 snaps.
The other two had 350-360.
So ALOT of TE snaps in that offense.

But then again, those guys are a compliment to the WR room.......and under an orchestarted offense.

[.Kodiak]

I'm going to wonder about this one. How many of the younger, more promising candidates interviewed didn't like what they were hearing about their roles from management?

I don't know. You have to be hot shit - and know it - to walk away from a job like the Steelers because you think something better is out there [and possibly not even this year].

And there's no guarantees. Even if your dream job comes open, you'll be competing with at least half a dozen others for that job.

So what I do think is that no one was pre-emptively turning down PIT without even hearing the pitch. It is, after all, one of only 31 other jobs like it.

[TimmayLake]

Guess a young, innovative, and now Super Bowl winning offensive mind was too extreme for the Steelers to consider. Must stick to paleolithic 4 TE centric offense.

I think one thing we know for sure, given McCarthy's historic preferences is that it will NOT be a "4 TE centric offense."

What dazzling modern NFL offensive scheme can we expect to see from Coach McCarthy?

[.Kodiak]

Have you seen how the Raiders treat HCs?

Who in their right mind would want that job.

Who in their right mind turns down a $5M+ pay bump? Even if the Raiders fire you after 2 years, you're already set for life.

[Deebo]

Guess a young, innovative, and now Super Bowl winning offensive mind was too extreme for the Steelers to consider. Must stick to paleolithic 4 TE centric offense.

I think one thing we know for sure, given McCarthy's historic preferences is that it will NOT be a "4 TE centric offense."

What dazzling modern NFL offensive scheme can we expect to see from Coach McCarthy?

I mean it won't be dazzling, but it'll have West Coast vibes, which is more modern than what we've seen in the past near decade

[Steeldrama]

Klint Kubiak.

That’s funny.

Of course Art wanted nothing to do with a young, ambitious, HC with Super Bowl aspirations.

“You want to win-a- what??? You’ll get NHALS and patchwork roster and like it, there fella. Omar…OMAR! Get this kid’s face off my zoom screen…it’s time for a fuzzy navel and my afternoon nap.”

Perhaps I’m delusional, but my hope is that those of you clinging to little Danny Rooney are correct in that the whole suck then rebuild fantasy with a young, hungry (not Vinny’s Pizza hungry) coach will come to fruition.

Anyway,

It wasn’t Kubiak or the first ever British born DC, Adan Durde that won the Seahawks their 2nd Super Bowl.

Nope

That was Mike McDonald

Defense still wins championships and that dude has the secret sauce.

He’s the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay of defensive football.

But it’s not just scheme.

It’s STRATEGY and in game decision making.

Of course McDonald knew the Pats OL is dogshit…the left side in particular.

Hell, you and I knew that.

But what McDonald may not have anticipated was how deer in headlights MVP runner-up Drake Maye was gonna be.

Nails on a chalkboard Collinsworth pointed it out a few times that Maye wasn’t reading the blitz (noooo shit).

To wit, McDonald only blitzed Witherspoon 21 times the entire regular season.

He sent him 6 times last night.

Why?

Because he saw something (easier to see without cool shades on).

Oh sure the Seahawks have some nice young talent, but it’s not like they don’t have their share of roster holes.

They were a 60-1 shot coming into 2025 to win the Super Bowl (congrats if you jumped on that early).

Point being, this team was carried by elite coaching not a stacked roster.

Hell, Christian Gonzalez and company held the offensive player of the year to next to nothing.

Klint Kubiak?

Hell no he didn’t turn down the Steelers, he was never in consideration.

Vegas??

Gonna need more than luck (Red 7! Red 7!)

[TimmayLake]

I think one thing we know for sure, given McCarthy's historic preferences is that it will NOT be a "4 TE centric offense."

What dazzling modern NFL offensive scheme can we expect to see from Coach McCarthy?

I mean it won't be dazzling, but it'll have West Coast vibes, which is more modern than what we've seen in the past near decade

I will personally be dazzled if it includes downfield passing to a seldom utilized type of player called a "wide receiver".

[Jobu]

Because he saw something (easier to see without cool shades on).

Oooh!

[Mick]

Maybe he told the Steelers no thanks

I'm going to wonder about this one. How many of the younger, more promising candidates interviewed didn't like what they were hearing about their roles from management? The "current state of the roster" was an early question, supposedly, which I assume meant they felt like they were contender-adjacent, and didn't want to hear about big changes. Keeping the 34, etc. I can't say I'd want to buy into that without at least getting to know some of the aging vets I'd be hitching myself to.

offhand the candidates we interviewed looked very unqualified for the most part on paper and generally didn’t get HC jobs anywhere.

[Gonzo]

Maybe he told the Steelers no thanks

I'm going to wonder about this one. How many of the younger, more promising candidates interviewed didn't like what they were hearing about their roles from management? The "current state of the roster" was an early question, supposedly, which I assume meant they felt like they were contender-adjacent, and didn't want to hear about big changes. Keeping the 34, etc. I can't say I'd want to buy into that without at least getting to know some of the aging vets I'd be hitching myself to.

offhand the candidates we interviewed looked very unqualified for the most part on paper and generally didn’t get HC jobs anywhere.

yes .. its a bit odd IMO
Hard to not draw bad conclusions from the process, statements and outcome

[Mick]

I'm going to wonder about this one. How many of the younger, more promising candidates interviewed didn't like what they were hearing about their roles from management? The "current state of the roster" was an early question, supposedly, which I assume meant they felt like they were contender-adjacent, and didn't want to hear about big changes. Keeping the 34, etc. I can't say I'd want to buy into that without at least getting to know some of the aging vets I'd be hitching myself to.

offhand the candidates we interviewed looked very unqualified for the most part on paper and generally didn’t get HC jobs anywhere.

yes .. its a bit odd IMO
Hard to not draw bad conclusions from the process, statements and outcome

Scheelhaase being an hc candidate to us, but mcvay going outside of the organization to bring in Kingsbury when LaFleur left instead of just promoting Scheelhaas to the non-play calling rams OC job is a rough look as well. There may still be some face-saving job title changes, but geez.

[AirRescueFF]

Klint was my want at the beginning of this, but we'll see. Hard to judge him on that team he's inheriting, if they stay relatively status quo.

[franco32]

offhand the candidates we interviewed looked very unqualified for the most part on paper and generally didn’t get HC jobs anywhere.

yes .. its a bit odd IMO
Hard to not draw bad conclusions from the process, statements and outcome

Scheelhaase being an hc candidate to us, but mcvay going outside of the organization to bring in Kingsbury when LaFleur left instead of just promoting Scheelhaas to the non-play calling rams OC job is a rough look as well. There may still be some face-saving job title changes, but geez.

Scheelhaase sounded a bit like Tomlin in his interview we were told. I wonder if he's an empty suit and McVay knows that. Could be why he slapped him in the face and brought in Kingsbury.

But if Scheelhaase was an empty suit and Shula bombed his interview, what does that say about the candidates we sourced for the head coaching position? That tells me we did a poor job getting a competitive slate of candidates to interview. So, McCarthy clearly would have shone brightly over the rest.