The Pittsburgh offense might run fewer jet sweeps with Matt Canada gone. Does it have the philosophy or personnel to be proficient on that side of the ball?
PITTSBURGH — Fifty-one days after vigorously vowing he was going to make changes from a podium inside a closet-sized news conference room in Houston, coach Mike Tomlin made a nearly unprecedented change in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization when he fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
In the nearly two months since the 24-point loss to the Houston Texans, there were some changes, to be sure, but none with greater risk or potential reward.
Less than three weeks ago, Canada moved from the booth to the sideline to call plays, a move that precipitated two of the Steelers’ better offensive performances of the season. There were first-drive points, a ground-game surge and two nail-biter wins.
But by the third week of the experiment, it was clear moving from the booth to the field was a death rattle more than a breath of life. The Steelers’ offense flatlined with 10 points against the Cleveland Browns, and Tomlin, who has never fired a coordinator during the season, knew it was time.
“Our most recent performance was a component of it, but I just think you know when you’re there, to be blunt and short about the answer,” Tomlin said of the timing of his decision. “Again, not saying that flippantly, not taking the situation lightly at all, but just having been in the role that I’ve been in for some time, you just know when you’re there, and usually it’s a totality of a myriad of variables.”
The numbers don’t lie. Canada was the worst offensive coordinator of the Tomlin era. Of the three previous coordinators, Canada’s offenses scored the fewest points per game (17.9) and had the worst offensive efficiency, lowest QBR and fewest yards per passing attempt, per carry and per game. Canada posted the worst numbers in many of those metrics by a wide margin, too. Under Bruce Arians, the offense averaged 21.2 points. With Randy Fichtner, that number was 22.0, and under Todd Haley, 23.5. The total QBR under Fichtner, Haley and Arians was 61.2, while under Canada, it dropped to 44.8. And while the other three averaged 355 yards per game, Canada’s offenses averaged 310.
Domonique Foxworth and Jeff Saturday react to the Steelers’ decision to fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
With Canada as coordinator, the Steelers were outgained in 31 of their 45 games, including the 2021 AFC wild-card loss to the Chiefs. And while the Steelers maintained a winning record in that stretch, they won 52% of regular-season games with Canada as offensive coordinator. Fichtner won 60%, Haley 63.5% and Arians 68.8%.
“The biggest crux of it was results,” Tomlin said of the decision to move on. “… I often say football is our game, our business is winning. We weren’t winning enough and fluidly enough, and that’s just the reality of it.”
There are, of course, other factors contributing to those numbers beyond just the scheme and the playcaller.
