The most enduring topic amongst Pittsburgh Steelers fans and any media who are watching the team play is the offensive struggles under offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Whether it’s former NFL players criticizing the scheme, former Steelers players calling for Canada’s firing, and the statistics themselves showing just how bad Pittsburgh has been with Canada calling the plays, it’s a topic of conversation that shows no signs of going away anytime soon.
So when co-hosts Rich Eisen and Chris Brockman broached the subject on Monday’s episode of the Overreaction Monday Podcast, it was inevitable that the future of Canada’s job and what needed to be done to fix the glaring issues would come up. Brockman called for wholesale changes across the offensive side of the ball to which Eisen agreed, but Eisen also shot the prospect down.
“I don’t believe you’re going to see a changing of the coordinator just four weeks into a season,” Eisen said. “I just think that is a Mike Tomlin reaction that doesn’t exist.”
Unfortunately for the vast majority of Steelers fans, that sits in line with the way the organization and even head coach Mike Tomlin have operated for years. Good luck finding evidence of a coach or coordinator being fired during a season. Typically, every member of the coaching staff that is let go by the team occurs during the offseason. So it’s easy to see why Eisen would say this. In fact, it’s not just a Tomlin thing, it’s a Pittsburgh thing.
So, if that holds true, what hope do Steelers fans have of any improvement? The offense has been absolutely terrible, unable to succeed on first downs almost at all, and supposedly not built to come from behind in games. Eisen shared his thoughts on what Tomlin should do with Canada if not fire him.
“He’s got to go to the OC and say what can we do to change?” Eisen said. “I want on my desk by nightfall a new scheme that we can teach Trubisky and that we can run with these guys that is not gonna screw with their heads so much that we’re gonna totally change everything around. Give me some ideas. I want it on my desk by nightfall. And that’s the way to go about it, you know?”
There are three major issues at play with Pittsburgh’s offense right now. One, starting QB Kenny Pickett got injured on a disastrous 4th-and-one call. He might be able to play in Week Five against the Baltimore Ravens, but he might not. That’s why Eisen references backup QB Mitch Trubisky. However, injuries to Pickett along with everything else going on with the offense are putting his future in jeopardy, and therefore, the team’s future.
Secondly, the organization’s reluctance to make coaching changes mid-season. There are evidently major issues on the offensive side of the ball, and Canada hasn’t sounded exactly confident in fixing the issues. Yet the team does not typically handle these sorts of issues with firings, dismissals, or whatever terminology they want to use during the actual season.
Thirdly, even if the Steelers went against the patient philosophy the team and organization have preached for years, it would be borderline impossible to commit to the wholesale changes in the scheme that Brockman called for earlier in the podcast. There’s simply not enough practice time to be able to completely rewrite the scheme and playbook while getting better during the season. That’s reserved for offseason work.
Hence, Eisen says Tomlin realistically needs to have a very frank conversation with Canada about finding solutions on how to create a scheme that won’t leave players’ heads spinning. Is that feasible? It certainly doesn’t feel like it with Canada calling the plays based on what we’ve seen from his offenses over the last two-plus seasons. However, it seems like it’s the only solution, barring a complete change of organizational direction.
You can watch the full conversation between Eisen and Brockman below.
