The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Was firing Matt Canada actually Mike Tomlin’s decision?
During his weekly press conference yesterday, head coach Mike Tomlin was quite specific in taking full responsibility and ownership for the firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada. That contradicted a report earlier in the day from Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette indicating that it was owner Art Rooney II who made the decision.
This is not the first time that a move had been credited to Rooney only for Tomlin to take responsibility for it. Most notable was the decision to hire Todd Haley as offensive coordinator after reportedly being forced to part ways with Bruce Arians.
Now, does Dulac have the best track record in the world? No. But I think Steelers fans might readily find it easy to believe that the decision to fire Canada was one that was forced on him. After all, he’s already been here for two-and-a-half years. Why all of a sudden?
One might even make the case that Tomlin was covertly conveying that it wasn’t entirely his decision. He started out his press conference by talking about how he was somebody who by nature would, in so many words, take the blame for things in order to shield others.
I would say that it ultimately doesn’t matter whose decision it was to fire Canada, but it kind of does. Rooney obviously has the final say in all decisions—that’s the owner’s prerogative—but if he intervened to make this move, that is pretty significant. After all, the team had never fired a coordinator in-season before.
I’m not quite sure what to think. I’m not quite sure if it would be better or worse if Tomlin acted alone in making the decision. In neither direction does it directly affect whom the next offensive coordinator is going to be. Unless Rooney intends to be more involved in that process than he may or may not have been in the past. One also wonders about the role of Omar Khan and Andy Weidl.
