Rams president defends Chris Shula over Andrew Fillipponi’s reporting he ‘bombed’ Steelers interview

The Pittsburgh Steelers officially introduced Mike McCarthy as their new head coach on Tuesday.

While the announcement had been rumored for days, the Steelers were apparently waiting to dot all their i’s before making the deal. That included interviewing Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, who was focused on his team’s efforts to make the Super Bowl. Those efforts ended Sunday in a 31-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Shula reportedly interviewed virtually with the Steelers on Friday evening, while he was in the midst of preparing for that game. Whether the decision to hire McCarthy was made before or after that is unknown.

On Monday, as the Steelers were prepping for their press conference, Pittsburgh radio host Andrew Fillipponi reported that the interview didn’t go well, going so far as to say Shula “bombed” it.

Report: Rams DC Chris Shula did not interview well for the Steelers HC job. In his virtual interview. Per sources. In fact, one person went as far as to say he “bombed” the interview.

Shula’s defense gave up 31 points to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game. pic.twitter.com/r8eWBoTnzN

— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) January 26, 2026

In an unusual move, Kevin Demoff, President of Team and Media Operations for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Rams, came to Shula’s defense with a rebuttal of the 93.7 The Fan host’s reporting.

“In talking to the Steelers, there is no truth to this, but maybe rather than trying to build up your name by tearing someone else down you should examine a process that has coaches having the biggest job interviews of their life crammed into an hour the day before a playoff game,” he wrote on X.

In talking to the Steelers there is no truth to this, but maybe rather than trying to build up your name by tearing someone else down you should examine a process that has coaches having the biggest job interviews of their life crammed into an hour the day before a playoff game https://t.co/4srZ7pcFWI

— Kevin Demoff (@kdemoff) January 27, 2026

Where does the truth lie? As always, it’s probably impossible to say. Fillipponi hasn’t done himself any favors in the credibility department by being decidedly pro-Mike McCarthy in many of his recent posts about that report. So if someone wanted to draw the conclusion that this information was disseminated the day before McCarthy’s introduction to give him and the Steelers a little cover from any potential criticism, it’d be tough to talk them out of it.

As for Demoff, this isn’t entirely out of the ordinary for him. He also made waves when he trolled ESPN’s Ryan Clark over his incorrect picks against the Rams.