Mike McCarthy is the coach the Steelers need.

One decision in Sunday’s game provided a microcosm.

It was fourth-and-1 for the Steelers at Indianapolis’ 22. Midway through the fourth quarter. Steelers led, 24-22.

That’s a spot where Mike Tomlin kicks a field goal, goes up by five and lets the defense win the game.

Or, more likely, lose the game.

The Steelers don’t have that kind of defense. The NFL isn’t that kind of league.

Instead, McCarthy goes for it. (No doubt prodded by quarterback Aaron Rodgers.)

Jaylen Warren moves the sticks.

The Steelers score a touchdown three plays later.

Up by nine, not five. Game over.

Steelers go on to win, 34-22.

That’s not to say that Tomlin never went for it in that situation. There were occasions.

But Tomlin was defense-minded. The de facto defensive coordinator.

Tomlin preferred to invest in defense. (As payroll still indicates.)

Tomlin believed that defense wins games.

But Tomlin’s defense long since stopped living up to its fictitious billing and inflated paycheck, finishing seventh-worst in yards allowed last season.

Cue the excuses: The defense was on the field too much, blah, blah, blah.

Today’s NFL is about scoring more, faster.

It takes a special defense to recalibrate that according to its will. Seattle has that kind of defense.

The Steelers don’t.

Rodgers and Warren were the Steelers’ most effective players against Indianapolis. Neither plays defense.

Without Joey Porter Jr. at cornerback, the Steelers neuter their own pass rush by playing almost exclusively zone defense. That can be a ticket to death by a thousand cuts.

All that is a lot to be traced back to one decision. One play.

But that decision and play won that game.

McCarthy won that game.

He had better keep doing that.

Because I don’t trust that defense. I don’t trust it to win games. I trust it to, hopefully, do just enough.

I trust Rodgers to win games. He was an absolute technician against the Colts.

I trust Warren to win games. Perhaps he’s been a No. 1 back all along.

I trust McCarthy to win games.

I also trust the schedule. The Steelers’ next two games are against teams with one victory apiece. Time to stack hotcakes.

I don’t trust DK Metcalf to catch passes. But his escort service on Warren’s 80-yard catch-and-run touchdown was a masterclass in simple downfield blocking. Metcalf set a 50-yard moving pick.

Remember what Metcalf did there.

Remember McCarthy’s fourth-quarter decision.

Moments like that win games.

Sometimes they win division championships.