The Pittsburgh Steelers made a surprising — but necessary — decision Tuesday, firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada after two-and-a-half years of him overseeing the offense.
The move came just two days after a 13-10 loss on the road to the Cleveland Browns in which the Steelers’ offense, outside of running back Jaylen Warren, was dreadful. Now, quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan and running backs coach Eddie Faulkner will handle offensive coordinator duties for the Black and Gold moving forward, starting Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 12 on the road.
For third-year Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth, losing Canada as offensive coordinator is “definitely sad” as he and Canada had a good relationship and the players cared about the person off the field. But on the field, the results weren’t there in a results-oriented business, so the Steelers did what needed to be done.
Now, it’s up to the players to push forward, Freiermuth said.
“I’m not gonna cheer for it. It’s sad. He’s a great guy. Me and Canada had a great relationship and obviously you’re never going to celebrate someone losing their job. He’s a great family, great guy,” Freiermuth said to reporters Wednesday from inside the locker room at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, according to video on Twitter via the Tribune-Review’s Chris Adamski. “So it’s definitely sad. But we gotta keep pushing forward and keep going with a big division game coming up.”
You never want to be happy or cheer over someone losing their job in this profession. It’s a shock, it’s certainly sad, and it’s tough coming just a few days before a holiday, too. But that’s the nature of the beast that is the NFL. A decision was made, now it’s time to move on and get things right.
Canada might have had great relationships away from the field with players offensively for the Steelers, but there were far too many issues with the offense under Canada over the last three seasons. They just weren’t a modern offense, and there wasn’t exactly a clear design to the offense overall.
Sunday’s showing against Cleveland was the final straw. One portion of the problem was removed. Now it’s up to the players to fix it.
“It heightens our senses to ‘Let’s get going.’ Obviously, everyone is going to have eyes on us offensively his week. We have to execute and do what we have to do,” Freiermuth said, according to video via 93.7 The Fan on Twitter.
All eyes are on the Steelers’ offense. The move that needed to be done was made. Now all the attention shifts to the players, who haven’t been executing at a high enough level this season.
That starts with quarterback Kenny Pickett and transfers on down to the offensive line, the running backs, receivers and tight ends. Outside of maybe Warren, no player has truly executed at a high level offensively this season. The play caller can’t be blamed anymore. It’s on the players now.
