The Matt Canada era of the Pittsburgh Steelers for Mike Tomlin will not benefit from the passage of time. While they won a reasonable number of games, the offense was simply so unproductive under their former offensive coordinator. The fact that they had so many game-winning drives in low-scoring games is telling: they scored outside of the scheme.
Tomlin hired Canada to take over as quarterbacks coach in 2020. He served in that capacity for one year before taking over as offensive coordinator. After presiding over Ben Roethlisberger’s final season, he ushered in the Kenny Pickett era prior to his dismissal in the middle of the 2023 season.
The fact that Tomlin had to fire a coach in-season is enormous, something the Steelers hadn’t done in many decades. And for Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, his hiring is the worst thing Tomlin ever did in his career. Even worse than a first-round bust at quarterback in Pickett, and he explained why on 93.7 The Fan recently.
“Mike Tomlin handpicks his staff. There’s no intervention from the front office or ownership when it comes to him hiring assistant coaches”, he told Joe Starkey. “The draft thing, I understand, Mike Tomlin has more of a say in that than other head coaches do, but Kevin Colbert Art Rooney [II], they’re all ultimately in on that decision, especially for a No. 1 pick.
“But Mike Tomlin watched [Kenny Pickett] grow up. He thought he could help this team, and it turns out that he wasn’t ready for that. When you’re looking at Mike Tomlin transgressions, I’d put Canada at the top of the list, and I’d put Pickett probably a notch or two down there”.
The Steelers, of course, ended the Kenny Pickett era not long after slamming the door shut on Matt Canada. They traded their 2022 first-round quarterback earlier this offseason, though only after he pushed for it.
Mike Tomlin has, at worst, a borderline Hall of Fame resume, with a Super Bowl victory and two appearances. He continues to climb the NFL’s all-time wins list and should become the eighth member of the 200-win club by 2026. But Canada and Pickett are very recent reminders that his legacy is anything but flawless.
He is one of a relative handful of coaches, for example, who have failed to win a postseason game in seven consecutive seasons without losing his job. His postseason winless streak is the longest in team history. Of course, both predate Canada and Pickett, so they only play so large a role in that.
But I think we can make the case that hiring Canada would be up there on most coaches’ transgressions lists. Many teams swing and miss on first-round quarterbacks just because the position is so important. But how many offensive coordinators have been as inept as Canada? His combination with Pickett only made things that much worse—for everyone involved, especially Tomlin.
