Steelers Couldn’t Afford to Waste Playoff Opportunity

The Pittsburgh Steelers have fired embattled offensive coordinator Matt Canada, head coach Mike Tomlin announced in a brief statement on Tuesday morning.

“Matt Canada has been relieved of his duties as offensive coordinator,” Tomlin said in a statement released on X, formerly Twitter. “I appreciate Matt’s hard work and dedication, and I wish him the best moving forward in his career.”

The long-awaited move, at least for Steelers fans, comes amid a season full of offensive struggles—the latest of which were on display during Sunday’s 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns. And this drastic move is a rare one. This is the first time Pittsburgh, traditionally the model of stability, has made an in-season coaching change since 1941, per ESPN.

But the Steelers couldn’t afford to have their offensive problems linger unaddressed with a playoff spot on the line.

The AFC North, and Pittsburgh’s road to the postseason, theoretically got easier after recent season-ending injuries to two of the division’s quarterbacks—Deshaun Watson (Browns) and Joe Burrow (Bengals). But that didn’t stop the Browns, with a backup rookie QB and all, from downing the Steelers in Week 11.

Pittsburgh is still 6-4 and in a Wild Card spot after its loss to Cleveland. That’s the good news. The bad news, which Steelers running back Najee Harris highlighted on Sunday, is that the club has a negative point differential (-29) and has been outgained in every game this season.

“Record-wise, we’re good,” Harris told reporters postgame. “You can look at the record. You could do two things. You could look at the record and say, ‘OK, we’re still good right now.’ Or we could look at the record and be like, ‘If we keep playing this type of football, how long is that [expletive] going to last?’

“I look at it like, ‘How long that [expletive] going to last?’ Y’all could look at it like it’s a good record, but I mean it’s the NFL. Winning how we did, it’s not going to get us nowhere.”

Tomlin seems to have agreed with Harris on that last bit. And now the Steelers have some offensive ground to make up.

Pittsburgh ranked 28th in points per game (16.6), 28th in offensive yards per game (280.1), 31st in passing yards per game (170) this season under Canada, who had been OC since 2021. And the coach’s inability to develop second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett into the franchise player the Steelers envisioned may have ended up costing Canada his job.

The former first-round pick ranks 25th in the NFL in passing yards, 28th in passing touchdowns, 29th in completion percentage, and 27th in passer rating this season. Pickett threw for just 106 yards with no scores against the Browns.

“We didn’t play, and I didn’t play, nearly well enough,” Pickett said after the game.

Steelers fans have been chanting “Fire Canada” for months. And now the deed has finally been done. But what happens to Pittsburgh’s offense now? That remains unclear.

What’s apparent, though, is that the Steelers are in a playoff position, have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the NFL, and may finally have some hope of putting at least a few more points on the board.

Time to see if those high-scoring hopes can turn into reality.