This morning on Get Up, the topic of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ struggling offense came up, particularly when it came to Mike Tomlin’s comments about the Acrisure Stadium crowd chanting “Fire Canada” during Monday Night’s win over the Cleveland Browns. That was obviously directed at offensive coordinator Matt Canada, and with Tomlin not completely condemning it, former Indianapolis Colts head coach Jeff Saturday said he thinks Tomlin is indirectly telling Canada to figure it out or take a hike.
“Mike T is telling Matt Canada, those people pay our bills, you better get them happy or you’re gone and then I’m gone,” Saturday said on the ESPN morning show.
After saying that he loved the passion of Steelers fans and doesn’t “begrudge them” for the “Fire Canada” chants, Tomlin made it clear that his comments about the fans’ passion didn’t undermine his confidence in the offense.
“I don’t share their concern because of my perspective,” he said. “I’m a part of the process. When you’re a part of the process, it’s less troublesome to you.”
But it did certainly sound like Tomlin understands the concerns with the offense, even if he doesn’t share it, and knows it needs to be better. That’s going to fall on Canada to prove he can change.
One thing that won’t happen any time soon that Saturday mentioned was Tomlin being gone, and I really don’t foresee the Steelers getting rid of him anytime soon. For better or worse, this is an organization that’s exceedingly loyal, and Tomlin has proven to be one of the best head coaches in the NFL.
In fact, Art Rooney II already said that a contract extension is coming for Tomlin, so even if the offense falters and Canada is let go, Tomlin isn’t going anywhere.
ESPN analyst Kimberly Martin also pointed out the struggles of Kenny Pickett, and that the fact he’s been pretty bad this year makes it hard to fully put the blame on Canada.
“The problem in Pittsburgh is that you don’t know exactly who to blame, and unfortunately it falls on Kenny Pickett and it falls on Matt Canada. I don’t know what is not working there,” Martin said. “The season starts, and you have the hype for Kenny Pickett in the preseason. Pickett has completely disintegrated.”
Pickett’s accuracy has been a lot worse than it was last season as a rookie, and he’s trying to force things a little bit. That could be a byproduct of poor play calling, but there’s no way Pickett should escape blame-free after two poor performances to start the season. He has to be better just as much as Canada has to be better. But with Canada overseeing the whole offense, the onus is more on him to change and start scheming better looks and ways for Pittsburgh to actually score.
Pittsburgh has two offensive touchdowns through its first two games. That level of offensive futility will prevent the Steelers from being a contender if they don’t pick things up fast. The Las Vegas Raiders are on tap Sunday, and they just allowed 38 points to the Buffalo Bills. If the offense struggles again, it’s going to be a code-red level of concern for the Steelers.
