It’s long past time for Steelers to fire defensive coordinator Keith Butler

Steelers vs Washington – 2020

In 2020 we had the game against Washington when Butler made J.D. McKissic look like Marshall Faulk. McKissis caught a season-high 10 passes on 10 targets getting 1st down after 1st down. The Steelers should’ve won this game, easily. Instead, they lost 17 to 23.

Here, all Butler had to do was key on McKissic, have a linebacker or safety keep an eye on him. That never happened. The Steelers began a three-game losing streak. That losing streak led to them limping into the playoffs to be eliminated in the first round.

With his game, there was a clear pattern of Keith Butler either not seeing he had to make an adjustment or refusing to do so. My guess is he doesn’t know. It seems like Butler thinks his job is over after the game starts and if there are any problems it’s because the players aren’t playing well enough.

Dick Lebeau always spotted problems like this, early. Dick Lebeau always had a page he could pull from his 300+ page defensive playbook. Yes, Lebeau’s playbook had over 300 pages. You can view it, here. I doubt Butler’s playbook has eight pages and they’re all either blitzes or some form of the Cover 2.