The Steelers are currently on the bye, a time during which teams regularly make signficant coaching or personnel changes. None are expected to be made with respect to the coordinator in charge of Pittsburgh’s offense, however. 
Offensive coordinator Matt Canada still has the backing of head coach Mike Tomlin and Co., Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports (subscription required). As Russini adds, the Steelers would have already made a change regarding Canada if they had decided to move in a different direction. The latter will retain play-calling duties for the foreseeable future.
Canada was named as an OC who found himself on the hot seat last week, and speculation regarding his job security has continued for some time. Russini notes that the Steelers held a meeting to discuss the unit’s struggles, but that has not produced a change on the sidelines. In spite of that, Canada will still no doubt face pressure to deliver an improvement on what Pittsburgh has managed during his time at the helm to date.
The Steelers rank near the bottom of the league in several categories this season, and they have averaged just 15.8 points and less than 290 yards of offense per game. The passing and rushing attacks sit 26th and 30th, respectively, meaning the unit does not have one element to lean on to help mask the shortcomings of another. Injuries in the pass-catching corps and along the offensive line have been present in 2023, but as a whole quarterback Kenny Pickett and the players around him have fallen short of expectations.
Given the fact that Canada’s tenure (which began in 2021) has not yielded notable improvement with Pickett becoming more acclimated to the NFL, frustrations laid bare by the fans along with questions regarding his support from within the building have been understandable. At 3-2 on the strength of their defense, however, the Steelers are firmly in the running in the AFC North and the wild-card picture in the AFC as things currently stand.
Pittsburgh has a history of avoiding in-season coaching changes, so it comes as little surprise that Canada appears safe for the remainder of the campaign. As has been the case before, though, he will face plenty of scrutiny in the coming weeks with his long-term future in the organization a matter of speculation.
*sigh*
lol mets
And we will stay mediocre
Mediocre would be a huge step up for this offense.
Fire Canada.
I saw a clip of him last week. Supposedly Ken audibled out of the play call and hit Pickens for the TD. Canada didn’t even smile.
I’m not a Canada fan by any means but you can take that as one of two things…
1. He was trying to determine what he audibled into
2. He was thinking of a 2pt play as the Steelers were trying to make it a 6pt game
3. He was just confused
I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt for some reason and go with #2.
the point is they scored a TD on Kenny’s audible… and zero on anything Matt called all game
The entire offensive scheme is just too basic. Doesn’t work at the big boy level. They can’t make a wholesale change right now. The real tragedy was not making the change last offseason.
agreed.
but what would Mike Tomlin do without his scapegoat?
He’s horrible. Everyone knows it.
At this point the ship has sailed on the season. And Canada will sink it.
They’re tied for 1st in the division.
it ain’t pretty, it’s football.
Baltimore has 4 wins
that was before then
Canada looks like Donald Cerrone or Tim Dwight if he had a beard.
Tomlin’s loyalty is becoming a weakness.
But without a fall guy to take the blame, a head coach soon finds himself in the crosshairs. Better to have someone else take a bullet for the team.
Russini’s story is not breaking news. The same thing has been written by local beat writers for the past two years. Her next scoop will be the first since she left ESPN.
There are a lot of rumors that she got to her level not through talent but by sleeping with sources/people in power. She and I were actually at George Mason University at the same time, but sadly for me I cannot validate her information gathering methods.
Is this Donald Trump?
This shouldn’t be a shock, mid season.
I don’t get the hate for Tomlin . He is a winner. I get the Canada disgust but Tomlin is a really good coach. That’s coming from a life long Bengal fan.
Every fan wants their team to be the ‘next greatest’ but it’s football and isn’t built that way.
Taking into account how ‘reporters’ gather information I’d not put much to words they spew as they get paid by ‘word count’ and not ‘factual data’.
The season is barely past the first quarter so there’s loads of football left and my position is to wait until December to judge my teams progress or lack thereof.
Speculation during preseason is largely built on last years win/loss and draft pick ‘possibilities’. However all true fans know drafted rookies are a crap shoot, too many 1st round failures and some surprise late round gems.
So let the season play out and don’t get too excited – the players and coaches all want to win but mostly they want fan support and play to provide your entertainment when you should be in church!
The problem isn’t only Canada. It is Tomlin. Tomlin refuses to hire a bigger name higher profile offensive coordinator. Haley was bigger when he was hired and yes he had more talent on the roster, but he produced results.
You get what you pay for and they aren’t getting nearly enough. There is talent on offense and they are not getting nearly the production they should out of it and that is on Tomlin for hiring and keeping a guy who cannot leverage that talent.
Najee Harris for example has gone from a pro bowl 1200 rushing yard, 450 receiving yard, 380 per yeah touch back to an absolute joke. He is being targeted out of the backfield less than 2x per game compared to 5.5 his rookie season.
Probably because Warren is performing better behind the same offense
He sure is, but you don’t go from year 1 Harris to this without some poor coaching or really bad injury. He’s been banged up but I think this is coaching.
So Canada is coaching different with Warren?
Always curious how much “we love our embattled guy” is PR BS n they know it, just patching holes or they actually believe in em n any day now Pitt O is gonna turn corner n into Air Coryell.