The Pittsburgh Steelers posted a 6-4 record before firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada. They went 4-3 without him. That only tells a small fraction of the story, given that they had three different quarterbacks start at least two games during that time.
But Canada and his dismissal were without question a significant component of the story of the Steelers’ 2023 season. To start with, it marked the first time they’d ever fired a coach in-season. I’m not sure any other coach ever elicited a position for his firing, either.
Given the instability at quarterback over the final six games, it’s really hard to compare and contrast the offense with Canada as play caller and the final seven games with quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan calling the plays and running backs coach Eddie Faulkner handling most of the rest of the load. Head coach Mike Tomlin gave Tony Dungy his take on the change, as recounted by the Hall of Fame coach last night on NFL on NBC.
“He said, ‘You know what, I needed to do it because everybody was feeling the crush of it, and Matt Canada couldn’t even be himself’”, Dungy said at the end of the Buffalo Bills’ win over the Miami Dolphins. “’And so, for all of us, I had to make that move, and everybody responded’”.
First hired as quarterbacks coach in 2020, Canada was seen at the time as something of a college maverick who would help update the Steelers’ offense into something a little bit more modern. During his year out of coaching, NFL teams reportedly even consulted with him about trends in the college game.
Tomlin dismissed Randy Fichtner as offensive coordinator after that season and the team ultimately promoted Canada to the post, where he remained for the past two-and-a-half seasons. It was a shock to many that he lasted that long, many expecting him to be fired ahead of the 2023 season.
He wasn’t, and the offense did not produce. It scored in the single digits in two of the Steelers’ first four games. By the time he was fired, they were only averaging 15.2 points per game on offense (not including two defensive touchdowns).
Not that it was worlds better after that. While we popped the champagne the following week when the Steelers finally produced 400 or more yards of offense for the first time in years, they still only scored 16 points albeit in a win. They remained under 20 points for the next three weeks, though quarterback injuries and lineup changes played a role in that. Even in the finale, they were still limited to 17, but they scored 34 and 30 in the games in between.
In all, the Steelers averaged 19.7 points per game after Canada’s firing, held to under 20 points in five of seven games played. But the operation of the offense over the final three games with Mason Rudolph at quarterback leaves room to hope that they may have finally found their groove.
