One day after the Pittsburgh Steelers put up just 225 yards of total offense in Week Four against the Houston Texans, the calls for the firing of third-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada continue to get louder and louder.
In three of the last four weeks, the Steelers’ offense has struggled to generate yards, points and have any sort of method of attacking opposing defenses.
Those calls were added to on Sunday following the loss when Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stated to reporters that “hell yeah we gotta make some changes” regarding the offense.
What those changes are is anyone’s guess, whether that’s personnel-wise on offense, coaching changes or even schematic changes.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who appeared on The Pat McAfee Show Monday, doesn’t know if the Steelers will fire Canada at any point this season. What he does know is that the Steelers are “sort of stuck” after not moving on from Canada after the 2022 season.
“Well, there are a lot of people around the league who thought that his [Canada’s] job was in jeopardy last season, and Mike Tomlin and the Steelers — typical to their personality — stayed the course, rode it out. They’ve been amongst the most stable organizations in sports. Mike Tomlin himself stated yesterday in a tone that you don’t normally hear, he was the one who said there were gonna be changes. I don’t know that they’re going to fire Matt Canada today, but clearly they have to do something to shake up the offense,” Schefter stated, according to video via the Pat McAfee Show YouTube page.
Many did expect the Steelers to part ways with Canada after a 2022 season that saw the Steelers score just 18.1 points per game, one of the worst numbers in football. But, with a rookie quarterback and an improved run game in the second half of the season, it was enough for the Steelers to keep that stability offensively entering Kenny Pickett’s second season, letting him fully immerse himself in Canada’s scheme and potentially take off in Year Two.
Through the first quarter of the season, that’s been anything but the case in Pittsburgh.
In four games, Pittsburgh is averaging just 15.5 points per game. There’s been a clear decline in points scored in each of the three seasons by the Steelers offensively under Canada. Players have regressed, the scheme is stale and there is very little confidence in that unit overall.
Yet, for Schefter, the Steelers are stuck in a position that they created themselves this offseason.
“The problem is, we’re four games into the season…what do you want them to do? Do you think they’re going to fire him and bring in a new offensive coordinator and overhaul the offense? They’re sort of stuck right now in the position that they are, and a lot of people felt they should have made the change last offseason. That was the time to do it,” Schefter said, according to video via the McAfee Show’s YouTube page. “Once you get in season, it’s more challenging. Not that they can’t do it, not that they can’t promote someone else and run the offense, but Mike Tomlin was the one who, out loud, said there are going to be changes. I don’t know what those changes are yet, but he sounded like a man determined to shake it up a little.”
If the Steelers do make a move offensively, they are not going to overhaul the system right away. Instead, if they promote someone like quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan or offensive assistant Glenn Thomas, they would still operate within the confines of the offensive scheme Canada has in place, but it would be a new play caller overseeing things, aiming to establish a rhythm offensively and put Pickett and the Steelers’ offense in better position to succeed.
Will that actually happen in-season? It’s very unlikely. The Steelers have not fired or made a serious coaching change with a coordinator in-season since Ray Sherman in 1998. That year, then-head coach Bill Cowher stripped him of his play-calling duties and then fired him after the season.
Could that happen this season with Canada? Based on the structure around him within the offensive scheme with Sullivan and Thomas, it’s possible. Will it happen? We’ll see.
Tomlin sounded determined, but it could very likely just be lip service.
