On Thursday morning the team announced that offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner will not have his contract renewed. The same goes for offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett and defensive backs coach Tom Bradley. 
“I want to thank all three of the coaches for their commitment and dedication to the Pittsburgh Steelers,” said head coach Mike Tomlin in a statement. “They have all played integral roles in our success and I am appreciative of their efforts. Personally, Randy and I have been in Pittsburgh since I hired him in 2007, but our relationship began well before that. He has been a friend of mine for years and wish his family nothing but the best, and I am eternally grateful for our relationship both on and off the field.”
Fichtner worked his way up the Steelers’ ranks to serve as the team’s OC for the last three seasons. Things went well enough in his first year as Todd Haley‘s replacement, but the wheels came off in 2019 and 2020.The Steelers finished last in the NFL this year with 1,351 rushing yards. The previous season wasn’t much better — they placed 29th in 2019 with 1,447 yards.
Meanwhile, Fichtner and Ben Roethlisberger seemed to have a falling out. The Steelers waited a bit to make it official, but Fichtner’s dismissal doesn’t come as a huge surprise.
Ben, Bad Snap Pouncey and the rest of the cap hitters need to go, too. Bite the Dead Money bullet and start the rebuild.
Pouncey hasn’t been the issue. that one snap was unfortunate, but he’s still holding his own
No, he’s made bad snaps all year. If you were watching the games, you’d know that. At least one or two a game.
I’ve watched every game. definitely not the case, but ok
The Steelers Depot and you must’ve watched different games. They’ve been on it all year. I’ll take their word, thank you very much. They’ve proven their accuracy in their articles.
Agree, but his snaps were indeed one of the issues. Not as bad as the one in the Cleveland game, but too many on the ground or low, off too the right/left, etc. Saw some videos showing his bad snaps. Around 2-4 a game. He was never this bad.
His snaps aren’t his issue, it’s his ability hold his own at the line in both run and pass blocking. Will always appreciate what he gave to the team but he’s clearly over the hill and really only able to get by because of his mental abilities and knowledge of the game and the offense. Time for a youth movement on the line
Fichtner had to go. granted he wasn’t out there playing, but the play calling has been horrible
To his defense, he didn’t have Ben last year, nor Brown or Bell, and this year Ben hasn’t looked like himself. The last several games it seems he just doesn’t have the arm that he used to have and I’d suspect the injury has affected him more than they’re willing to admit. He’s coming up short on some passes, wobbly spirals, and just bad decisions at times, too.
Change may help and not opposed to it, but he wasn’t a bad OC. Just bad timing and luck I guess.
Tomlin should have been first out the door.
At this post in his career, Ben can still win games and I think win a super bowl with the right team around him. A new OC and line coach will help a ton. Those were the biggest issues of the offense. Everyone wants to point the finger at Ben. He’s not perfect, but I think he’s the best option for next year. There was no running game at all, and no creativity/ good play design on offense. Look how the Steelers all year got the offense going when Ben was “drawing the plays in the dirt”. Fichtner should’ve been gone during the year. Let’s make one last run at it with Ben and pouncey. Here we go!
Since Tomlin is protected and we are going to remove assistant coaches again to take the blame they did not go far enough. How can Danny Smith the not so special teams coach survive?
A 17 game win streak at home against the Browns ends and the Steelers bring out the firing squad…lol.
Big deal look at Tomlin’s playoff record. Can’t continue to blame the assistants. The standard is the standard which has not been in the post season.
Replace Keith Butler with Marvin Lewis
Marvin is a 4-3 guy. With our cap situation and need on the offensive line I am OK with status quo on D. The draft is the only viable path to add players.
Tom Bradley was part of the Jerry Sandusky cover up at Penn State. Can’t believe the Steelers even let him coach.