The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season is over, already eliminated from the postseason after suffering a 42-21 loss at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. They just barely made the postseason with a 9-7-1 record and a little help from their friends.
This is an offseason of major change, with the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the possible retirement of general manager Kevin Colbert, and the decisions about the futures of many important players to be made, such as Joe Haden, Stephon Tuitt, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and others.
Aside from exploring their options at the quarterback position, the top global priority, once again, figures to be addressing the offensive line, which they did not do quite adequately enough a year ago. Dan Moore Jr. looks like he may have a future as a full-time starter, but Kendrick Green was clearly not ready. Chukwuma Okorafor is heading into free agency, as is Trai Turner.
These are the sorts of topics among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked. There is rarely a concrete answer, but this is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all their uncertainty.
Question: Will we see Mike Munchak back in Pittsburgh?
For days now, it has been becoming increasingly likely that former Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak would soon be losing his job, holding the equivalent post for the past three seasons with the Denver Broncos.
It appears that he will not survive the staff turnover under new head coach Nathaniel Hackett, who just announced the hiring of Justin Outten to the role of offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak to quarterbacks coach and passing coordinator…and Butch Barry as offensive line coach. Both Outten and Barry worked with Hackett in Green Bay.
Unless the Broncos retain Munchak as something like a senior assistant, assistant head coach, or run game coordinator, he will be looking for a new position. Reportedly, he has already received multiple offers from other teams—it’s entirely possible the Steelers are one of the teams who have shown interest in bringing him back.
After all, they have no offensive line coaches on the staff after the Chicago Bears yesterday announced the hiring of Chris Morgan, who was their assistant offensive line coach, acting as head line coach for the final three games after Adrian Klemm left during the season.
So, there are no incumbents for the job, and Munchak is almost surely available. Provided that there is interest from both parties, it’s hard to imagine a reunion not happening, with the way that things are shaping up. But nothing is guaranteed.
We don’t even know if the Steelers want him back, for one thing—maybe he’s not what Matt Canada is looking for, or doesn’t mesh with the direction Mike Tomlin wants to go with his next quarterback. Or maybe Munchak wants to stay closer to his granddaughter on the west coast. Maybe he’ll just retire.
