In the first game without Matt Canada, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ streak is over. Breaking a 58-game drought, the Steelers registered their first 400-yard game since Week Two of the 2020 season, going over that mark today against the Cincinnati Bengals.
It’s the NFL’s second-longest drought of the last 30 seasons, only trailing the 2005-2010 Oakland Raiders, who went 78 games without at least 400 yards of total offense in a game.
At the half, Pittsburgh had over 200 yards of total offense, though only three points to show for it. By the end of the third quarter, they sat at exactly 300 yards. They went over that magical 400-yard line on a Najee Harris first-down run with just over five minutes to play in the fourth quarter. After that play, the Steelers had 418 yards.
While Pittsburgh’s offense still has its struggles, there was more fluidity against the Bengals this afternoon. QB Kenny Pickett was more decisive with the football and spread the ball around to more targets, most notably TE Pat Freiermuth. The running game wasn’t as prolific as it has been but still steady and effective, RB Najee Harris running hard and churning out yards after contact as he worked a near-even split with RB Jaylen Warren.
Under Canada, the Steelers’ offense struggled to put up numbers common around the rest of the NFL. Only twice did they score 30 points in a game and were the only team without 400 yards of total offense in an outing. Every other team had at least four such instances over that span.
Pittsburgh has had arguably its strongest offensive performance of the season from a yards and “fluidity” standpoint, the buzzword Mike Tomlin used in explaining why Canada was fired. Points and finishing drives have been harder to come by, there’s been too many mistakes and negative plays, but the offense does look better without Canada.
As of this writing, the Steelers lead the Bengals 13-7 as they set up for a Chris Boswell field goal with 3;26 left in the game.
