Mike Munchak was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line coach from 2014-18, consistently having his unit as one of the best in the NFL. However, there were some rough years for the offensive line before the Steelers hired Munchak. Jack Bicknell Jr. was Pittsburgh’s offensive line coach the year before in 2013, and former Steelers offensive lineman John Malecki recently spoke about just how bad Bicknell was in his role.
“That offensive line coach left,” Malecki said recently on drdeck’s YouTube channel. “It’s like any job; there’s a lot of politics and a lot of people and a lot of relationship stuff. He went to bat for me, he really liked me, liked the way I played. I knew the playbook inside and out. They brought in another guy, and for that season, it was complete and utter turmoil.
“This dude sucked. This is like the Killer B’s era. They should’ve been Super Bowl contenders, they were just screwing things up on the back end super hard, in my opinion. But they brought this coach in who couldn’t really get the room together. So, they went above him and started bringing in some guys to try and fill some gaps.”
Malecki was an offensive lineman with the Steelers in 2011 and 2012. A Pittsburgh-area native, Malecki was living a dream with the Steelers. While Malecki doesn’t say any names, it’s easy to pick out who exactly he’s talking about.
Sean Kugler was the Steelers’ offensive line coach from 2010 to 2012, before leaving to become the head coach at UTEP in 2013. Therefore, he’s likely that coach who liked Malecki and thought he had potential in the NFL.
After Kugler left, the Steelers brought in Bicknell to replace him. Reports during the 2013 season indicated that the hire was not working out well for the Steelers. Longtime team insider Gerry Dulac reported that offensive assistant Shaun Sarrett basically became the offensive line coach during the back half of the season because of how poorly things were going with Bicknell.
It sounds like Malecki can back that report up. He doesn’t have many nice things to say about Bicknell, which makes sense. Malecki was let go by the Steelers before the 2013 season began, and that was the end of his NFL career. It doesn’t seem like Bicknell had as much interest in him as Kugler did.
That dysfunction showed up on the field, too. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 42 times during the 2013 season. Compare that to the season before Bicknell got there when Roethlisberger was only sacked 30 times. In fact, that was the most times Roethlisberger was sacked in a season over the final 12 seasons of his career.
After the 2013 season, the Steelers did something they don’t often do: fire a coach. Bicknell was let go after only one year in Pittsburgh, showing just how ready the team was to move on from him. It’s unfortunate, especially for Malecki, but it did lead to the Steelers hiring Munchak. There was a light at the end of the tunnel for them.
