It’s long past time for Steelers to fire defensive coordinator Keith Butler
The Pittsburgh Steelers have stuck with Keith Butler as defensive coordinator for a long time, but here’s why the team should part ways with him in 2022.
When the Steelers forced Hall of Famer, Defensive Coordinator Dick Lebeau, into a short-lived retirement and promoted Keith Butler to the position, they went from one of the all-time best defensive minds in the NFL to one of the worst.
I’ve been a critic of Keith Butler for a long time. The first two seasons of his tenure he wasted trying to bring back the Cover 2 – Zone Under. As an NFL base defense the C2-ZU has been obsolete since its creator, Tony Dungy, retired from football in 2009.
Under Butler defensive fundamentals have bottomed out. The Steelers have had tackling problems since the year he took over in 2016 and still haven’t solved that problem. That’s six years of tackling problems. Young viewers must think the Steelers have never been able to tackle. There’s an easy fix for tackling problems. You just keep the Defense after practice working on tackling drills until the problem goes away.
The Steelers defense has had no identity and the players have, often, looked confused. The defensive talent Steelers GM, Kevin Colbert, has amassed masked Butler’s shortcomings and he’s enjoyed praise for things he had little to do with. Butler’s entire tenure has been one of total incompetence, ruining the Steelers chances game after game, season after season. I’m not talking about a loss here and there. I’m talking about key games, some of which, have cost the Steelers the entire season.
Four times Butler should’ve been fired
The Steelers organization always gives players and coaches a fair shot. They will stick with people even after they fail. That’s admirable and creates stability when it pays off. However, it can be a problem when the person getting another chance is totally incompetent. It has been obvious for quite some time that Keith Butler was incompetent as a Defensive Coordinator.