Matt Canada will not be given an opportunity to close out a third season as Steelers offensive coordinator. While that had long been expected, Mike Tomlin instead informed the third-year OC of an in-season dismissal Tuesday morning.
Not expected to be given a fourth season in this role, Canada is instead out with seven games remaining. The Steelers will pivot to a co-OC setup of sorts to replace Canada, 51. Running backs coach Eddie Faulkner will take over in the coordinator role, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, who adds quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan will move into the play-calling role.
Sullivan has been an OC with the Giants and Buccaneers previously, and he has been with the Steelers since 2021, Canada’s first OC season. Faulkner has been in place as Pittsburgh’s RBs coach since 2019. Faulkner, 46, will play a lead role in game planning, per NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo. But Sullivan, 56, will be the assistant given headset responsibilities.
The Steelers are 6-4, but their offense has struggled throughout Canada’s third season. Pittsburgh holds a minus-29 point differential, being in the historically strange position of holding a winning record after having been outgained in each of its 10 games this season. Canada’s struggles predate this campaign. The Steelers have not produced a 400-yard offensive game since the 2020 season, Randy Fichtner‘s last as OC.
The team’s 249-yard outing in Cleveland represented its 58th straight game coming in below 400 yards. The Steelers’ most recent such outing came in Week 2 of the 2020 season. Kenny Pickett, who completed 15 passes for just 106 yards against the Browns’ menacing pass defense in Week 11, has not taken a step forward in his second season. The 2022 first-rounder’s status is secure for the time being, but the Pitt product may soon be on the clock as well.
Prior to the Browns matchup, Canada had been expected to be given a chance to foster Pickett improvement to close out the season. Tomlin kept Canada on as OC — to the chagrin of many — after Pickett put together a promising stretch to close out a statistically unimpressive rookie season. Instead, this will be the first Steelers OC firing in-season since Bill Cowher relieved Ray Sherman of play-calling duties during the 1998 slate. But the Steelers have been a defense-dependent team for years, transitioning from the “Killer B’s” era to a period of low-octane offense that has encompassed most of the 2020s.
Tomlin initially hired Canada as quarterbacks coach in 2020, but the longtime HC did not renew Fichtner’s contract for the 2021 season, promoting the ex-Maryland leader ahead of Ben Roethlisberger‘s final season. This marked Canada’s first NFL coaching gig. Prior to joining the NFL ranks, Canada had been an OC at seven schools (Indiana, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, NC State, Pitt, LSU, Maryland) since 2007. Finishing his Maryland tenure as interim HC amid a scandal involving former HC D.J. Durkin, Canada surfaced with the Steelers despite not coaching during the 2019 season.
While it could certainly be fair to say Canada did not have an above-average quarterback during his tenure, Tomlin will aim to see if someone else can coax better play from Pickett.
Roethlisberger was a shell of his Hall of Fame version by the time Canada took over, and Mitch Trubisky did not inspire confidence to start last season. Pickett, however, has flatlined during this year’s opening stretch. Pickett ranks 28th in QBR and has managed only six touchdown passes in 10 games. He finished his rookie season with seven in 13 contests. The in-state product’s yards per attempt (6.1) and completion percentage (60.5) figures are down from 2022 as well.
As a team, the Steelers rank 29th with 14 touchdowns this season. They only put up 30 points twice during Canada’s OC tenure. This still figures to be an uphill battle for Faulkner and Sullivan, with the 2024 offseason likely to serve as a pivotal Pickett point. But the team will attempt to salvage what could still be a playoff season. Tomlin famously has never had a losing season, and the historically high-floor operation will reassemble pieces to keep that streak going.
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