The Pittsburgh Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin did what many believed they’d never do: fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
After two-and-a-half seasons of poor offensive showings, Tomlin pulled the plug on the much-maligned offensive coordinator, putting running backs coach Eddie Faulkner and quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan in charge of the offense the rest of the season.
Now the attention regarding the offense being one of the league’s worst shifts to Tomlin, which has the long-time head coach facing a big week in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Good Morning Football host Jamie Erdahl chose Tomlin as the person in the NFL she wants to “see something from” this week.
“What are we doing, Tomlin? Tomlin let Matt Canada go. …He’s got two different guys running the offense coming into this game. This offense, this team has been outgained in every single game this season,” Erdahl said, according to video via NFL.com. “The Steelers have [rarely] lost to a quarterback making his first career start. The last time they did it was Brett Favre. Please, don’t. What are we doing here, Mike? Tell us the answer.”
It’s well-known at this point that the Steelers’ offense has been a nightmare this season. They rank near the bottom of the league in almost every single statistical category. The decision to fire Canada was necessary, and quite honestly, well past time to do it.
The Steelers’ offense hadn’t shown much improvement at all, players were getting frustrated publicly, and second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett was regressing over the last month — regressing hard, too.
Now though, the Band-Aid has been ripped off. Fresh air is pouring into the wound attempting to heal. A fresh perspective from Faulkner and Sullivan can’t hurt, though the scheme won’t change. But anytime there’s a change in coaches, the team oftentimes gets a jolt and performs well right away. It happened in Buffalo, though it has an elite quarterback in Josh Allen.
It’s the hope that it happens for the Steelers in Week 12 against the Bengals on the road. Pittsburgh needs a strong performance. Tomlin is under the microscope.
