Early Tuesday morning, the world woke up to the long hoped for news by many among Steeler Nation that the Pittsburgh Steelers were officially moving on from OC Matt Canada. Mike Tomlin’s statement said that Canada was being relieved of his duties, effectively being fired after a humiliating offensive performance last Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, compounded by a poor performance on offense throughout Canada’s tenure as offensive coordinator.
Tomlin, in his weekly press conference, gave an opening statement about his decision to move on from Canada. When asked if the decision to fire Canada was his or collectively with GM Omar Khan and owner Art Rooney II, Tomlin responded stating that he was the one who pulled the trigger on the change at offensive coordinator.
“Leadership is lonely,” Tomlin said to the media on video from the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “I don’t run from it, I run to it. It was mine and mine alone.”
This statement from Tomlin contradicts a tweet put out earlier by Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, stating that it was Rooney’s decision to fire Canada. Obviously, Rooney has final say of whatever decision the coaching or front office staff make, but seeing as this is Tomlin’s coaching staff, it makes sense that he was the one to make the call on Canada.
Tomlin has long been accused of having too much loyalty to Canada and other members of his coaching staff. However, the lack of results became too loud to ignore. Tomlin said in his presser that he didn’t take this decision lightly, seeing as this is someone’s career and reputation on the line. But Pittsburgh’s continual poor performance offensively became too much for Canada to stick in his role with the team, pushing Tomlin to make the call to try and jump-start the Steelers’ sputtering offense.
Tomlin likely let Rooney know that he intended to fire Canada, but you can see where Tomlin likely felt the pressure by Rooney as well as the rest of Steeler Nation to make a change. There were no signs of improvement and his locker room was starting to show signs of frustration and dissension. Tomlin will move forward with the collective of QB Coach Mike Sullivan and RB Coach Eddie Faulkner leading the offense for the rest of the season, sticking with his decision to make a change that most of the Black and Gold faithful would likely say was long overdue.
