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All is well in the Steel City for the Pittsburgh Steelers, mostly. Aaron Rodgers is back and gives them the best opportunity to win right now, and he is reunited with an old friend in Mike McCarthy. The Steelers have only had 3 head coaches since 1969, and each one was a defensive specialist in his 30s when hired. That tradition went out the window when bringing in a 62-year-old McCarthy. A long-term answer is waiting in the wings at the QB position, but what else plagues the Steelers as we continue our unanswered questions series?
The turnover culture will need to continue under the new regime. Pittsburgh produced 27 turnovers last season, the fourth-most in the NFL. Mike Tomlin was known for the hard-edge culture of forcing turnovers, and last season they were also fourth in turnover margin at plus-12. Can they keep up the pace with an offense-minded McCarthy?
The Steelers won the AFC North in 2025 and will look to repeat as champions. They have not won back-to-back division titles since the 2016 and 2017 seasons. They will more than likely go as far as Aaron Rodgers is willing to take them in 2026, but a long-term answer will need to stand out between quarterbacks Will Howard and rookie Drew Allar at some point soon. Especially if Rodgers were to go down with an injury in his final season.
Pittsburgh needs to keep a consistent "bend but not break" mentality on defense. They gave up a ton of yards last season, but were still among the best in the NFL at doing so. The team would finish fifth in red-zone defense as well. New defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has several tasks at hand, but at least the opponents' red-zone scoring isn't one of them.
This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: 3 unanswered questions before camp: Pittsburgh Steelers edition
