Another week, another abysmal offensive showing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, this time in a 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns on the shores of Lake Erie.
In the loss, the Steelers generated just 249 yards of total offense. Second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett threw for just 106 yards, marking the second straight game he barely cracked 100 yards passing.
That’s led to some frustrations after the game from the locker room, and it continues to have fans and media calling for the firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
But, for former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who had another live stream on YouTube while watching the game on his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” show, firing Canada might not be the answer for the Steelers. He said that the unit needs to look itself in the mirror and figure out what works and doesn’t work.
“It’s like this new thing now, right? It’s ‘Fire Matt Canada,’ this, that, and the other. I don’t know that that’s the answer,” Roethlisberger said regarding potentially firing Canada and making a change offensively. “Again, people have to understand if it happens, if you fire Matt Canada right now, what does that look like? The team is in the playoffs.
“I mean, right now we’re in the playoffs. We’re 6-4. So, I think they need to probably look at themselves in the mirror as an offense and figure out what they need to do and what they can do, how they can get better.”
That might not be the answer right now for the Steelers, considering they’re in the playoffs currently. But what is looking in the mirror — again — and figuring out what works and doesn’t work going to do?
It’s the same song and dance with the Steelers’ offense. The passing game is a mess, the run game is inconsistent, the offensive line can’t pass protect, and there is very little from a passing concept standpoint over the middle of the field.
Following Week 11, there’s no learning what works and doesn’t work. That should be clear at this point in the season. There’s a strength to the offense and clear weaknesses.
Maybe a change at offensive coordinator doesn’t change much of anything schematically, but could it change things from a play-calling perspective? Potentially. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason to Sunday’s game plan and overall plan of attack against Cleveland’s defense. Players didn’t execute, either.
Something has to change offensively. We’ll see what that is moving forward.
