Two home games, two straight "Fire Canada" chants heard on the north shore of Pittsburgh. The Steelers offense had a brief flash of decent against the Las Vegas Raiders, only to come crashing back down to earth was some predictable play-calling against Houston and Baltimore.
If the Steelers are going to make the playoffs this season -- something they've failed to do of late -- they need to make some changes. Mike Tomlin hinted that could happen after Pittsburgh's blowout loss against Houston, but a week went by with very little action in the Steelers front office.
As bad as Canada has been this season, he is not alone. The Steelers could make him the fall guy at some point -- either during the season or this offseason -- but much of Pittsburgh's ineptitude falls on the players, as well.
Steelers need to explore their options at quarterback
Kenny Pickett has received a pass with some of the Pittsburgh fanbase for his poor play, but it's tough not to notice at this point. Pickett often doesn't work through his progressions, and puts his offense in a tough situation. In previous weeks, the Pitt product left the pocket early when he had plenty of time to make a play. With limited mobility against Baltimore, that wasn't an option and it showed.
There's only so many times Steelers fans can deflect blame from Pickett on the play-calling. Good players can often overcome bad coordinators, even should it impact them in the short-term. Pickett has missed open receivers and lacking confidence, and doesn't have the footwork to overcome either of those.
Playing Mitch Trubisky will not fix the Steelers problems. If anything, it might make matters worse, and send a bad message to their young QB. But if Pittsburgh plans of sticking with Canada and thus hurting Pickett's long-term progression as a passer, then it won't matter anyway. Pickett was drafted as the most pro-ready QB in his class. He was proven not to be that.
Matt Canada shouldn't be the only Steelers coach fired
When Matt Canada allegedly received a 'promotion', a term Mike Tomlin has since denied, quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan did not get that same good news. Sullivan was named by some as a possible replacement for Canada. After all, Pittsburgh has elevated the QB coach to OC several times before, including Randy Fichtner and then Canada himself. But if those two are any indication, Pittsburgh should be hiring external candidates.
Sullivan was brought in at the end of Ben Roethlisberger's tenure, which didn't exactly go smoothly. He's also coached up Pickett for the previous two seasons. He's essentially Canada's right-hand man. If Canada goes during the bye week, so should Sullivan. The duo hasn't done much to improve the Steelers offense over their tenures in Pittsburgh.
Sullivan has some experience as an OC via the Buccaneers and Giants, so there's a good chance Tomlin would not heed that advice, and make Sullivan the head play-caller were he to let Canada go midseason. During the offseason, however, hiring from outside the organization is essential.
Steelers need to make radical changes to the offensive line
Pittsburgh's offensive line has been among the worst in football, which hasn't helped the like of Canada and Pickett make a good impression early this season. The line's issues have long been masked by Canada's inept play-calling, but there's a reason they drafted Broderick Jones in last April's NFL Draft.
Jones entered the starting lineup with Dan Moore's injury, which is a step in the right direction. However, this offensive line hasn't progressed since 2022 (minus a brief stretch at the end of last season), which does not bode well for offensive line coach Pat Meyer. Meyer was hired in February of 2022, and frankly may not have a place in the Steelers organization should these same struggles continue all season long.
As bad as Pittsburgh has been offensively, it all starts at the line of scrimmage. If the Steelers are getting beat up front, they are unlikely to win most downs, which is precisely what is happening on a weekly basis.
