{"id":94512,"date":"2026-01-23T11:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/94512\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:35:22","slug":"worst-decision-pittsburgh-could-make-orlovsky-hates-steelers-potential-coach-quarterback-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/94512\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Worst Decision Pittsburgh Could Make:&#8217; Orlovsky Hates Steelers&#8217; Potential Coach-Quarterback Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dan Orlovsky isn\u2019t mincing words. Hiring Mike McCarthy and reuniting him with Aaron Rodgers will do nothing to help the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 long-term goals. A point he made crystal clear Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHiring Mike McCarthy and bringing Aaron back would be the worst decision Pittsburgh could make,\u201d Orlovsky said on ESPN\u2019s Get Up. \u201cThe worst.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCarthy is considered a real possibility to succeed Mike Tomlin. In turn, that would increase the currently near-zero chance Rodgers comes back in 2026. Rodgers and McCarthy worked together for a decade in Green Bay and won a Super Bowl together. While reports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nfl\/news\/aaron-rodgers-apparently-had-toxic-13-year-relationship-with-former-packers-coach-mike-mccarthy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hinted at a strong rift<\/a> at the end of their tenure, Adam Schefter noted Thursday that their relationship is stronger than many think.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe there\u2019s a respect there between the two men. And I believe that they would be open to working with one another,\u201d Schefter said.<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers himself <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/26473333\/rodgers-disputes-reported-feud-mccarthy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dismissed those reports in 2019,<\/a> calling it a \u201csmear attack\u201d by talking to players with \u201can agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Orlovsky, it\u2019s a path the Steelers can\u2019t consider.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo hire Mike McCarthy and bring Aaron back is going to place you quite literally in the same position you are in right now in January of 2027,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Meaning, the Steelers may again tread water on the way to an 8-10 win season, giving them a middle-of-the-road 2027 draft pick that may cause them to miss out on a top quarterback prospect. Orlovsky panned the Steelers for taking the same approach in 2025, though failing to secure a top pick in the 2026 class won\u2019t cause the franchise to lose out on a blue-chip passer; this year\u2019s class lacks any depth at quarterback.<\/p>\n<p>Bringing Rodgers back would offer continuity. A bridge in a year where there are few other options. But it\u2019s doubtful Pittsburgh will get anything different than what it\u2019s experienced the last 10 years, making it easy to question the incentive of linking the two again.<\/p>\n<p>Hiring McCarthy also provides no guarantee of a Rodgers return. He could still easily choose retirement. It\u2019s the path he <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/01\/espn-reporter-shares-prior-conversation-where-aaron-rodgers-privately-addressed-his-future-feels-like-the-end\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">appeared to be leaning by the end<\/a> of the season. And to state the obvious, Pittsburgh\u2019s next head coach hire can\u2019t be so shortsighted to focus solely on 2026\u2019s outcomes. It must be long-term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Orlovsky isn\u2019t mincing words. Hiring Mike McCarthy and reuniting him with Aaron Rodgers will do nothing to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3269,39757,46379,8203,73,75,74,1833,995],"class_list":["post-94512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-adam-schefter","tag-dan-orlovsky","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}