In a rare but necessary move, the Pittsburgh Steelers made a midseason coordinator change. Firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada after Week 11, it became the first coordinator change the franchise made during a season. Ever. All in an attempt to save a fracturing locker room and with the aim of helping QB Kenny Pickett. But speaking to reporters Monday, Team President Art Rooney II admitted that the move came at a cost.
“Continuity is important,” Rooney told reporters in audio aired by 93.7 The Fan Monday afternoon. “And when you start a season with one coordinator, there’s a lot that gets put in place that it’s hard to make a change midseason. So that’s why it’s rarely done. That’s why we rarely do it. It probably didn’t help him to make the change then.”
With interim OC Eddie Faulkner and QB Coach Mike Sullivan not in consideration to be the permanent hire, it means Pickett will essentially have had four different coordinators or de facto ones in the last year. Canada, Faulkner, Sullivan (the actual play caller following Canada’s dismissal), and whoever the 2024 hire winds up being, a decision in Mike Tomlin’s hands. It was a key reason why the Steelers kept Canada after 2022 rather than have Pickett learn a new system in his second year. Now, he’ll do so in his third.
Unfortunately for the Steelers, they hardly got the chance to evaluate Pickett post-Canada. They saw one full game, a strong performance by Pickett in a win over the Cincinnati Bengals. While Pickett didn’t throw for a touchdown, he completed over 70 percent of his passes for 278 yards, both season-high marks. Had WR Diontae Johnson’s bobbling end-zone catch been ruled a touchdown instead of an incompletion, Pickett would’ve thrown for at least one score and the Steelers would have put more points on the board.
But Pickett suffered a high ankle sprain in the second quarter of the following game, requiring surgery for a quicker recovery. By the time he got healthy, Mason Rudolph put Pittsburgh in position for the playoffs and finished the year, the Steelers falling in an AFC Wild Card game to the Buffalo Bills.
Pittsburgh’s presumed starter but facing competition, Pickett will quickly have to mesh with his new offensive coordinator. He doesn’t have the time to develop and be brought along slowly. If he can’t perform well in the summer, it’s possible he starts 2024 the way he ended 2023.
On the bench.
