On November 21, 2023 the Pittsburgh Steelers organization fired Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada.
Head Coach Mike Tomlin was very torn in this decision as he stated in an interview, “I got a lot of respect for Matt personally and professionally. It was not easy, but I thought it was necessary. This is a results-oriented business, and to be short, the improvements were not rapid enough or consistent enough for us to proceed.” This decision comes after an embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Browns with a score of 13-10 on 11/19/23. The Steel City fanbase seems to be in a heavy agreement with Mike Tomlin's decision, many even were fed up with the way Canada was leading the Steelers offense.
The Steelers offense has struggled mightily since Canada's arrival in 2021, never having more than 400 total offensive yards in a single game in their total 45 games with him as coordinator. Every single other team in the NFL did that at least FOUR TIMES! Also, in 31 out of 45 games with him they were outgained. It's insane that the Steelers gave him an extension at the beginning of the season. He will be replaced by a combination of the quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan will handle play calling and running backs coach Eddie Faulkner will handle the coordinator duties.
Many players such as Najee Harris have vented their frustrations about the offensive struggles.
"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 s*** going to last?' I look at it like, 'How long that s*** 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." Harris said in an interview with ESPN after the loss to the Browns. The Steelers have a -29 point differential this season, they rank 28th in points per game, 28th in offensive yards per game, and 31st in passing yards per game. Also, Pittsburgh has only gotten into the endzones 16 TIMES THIS YEAR!
Finally, an absolutely crazy stat is that the last time the Steelers have fired a coach/coordinator mideason was 1941! When they had three coaches in that single season, Bert Bell, Aldo Donelli, and Walt Kiesling, they went a combined 1-9-1.
Credit: ESPN.com