Frank Reich was recently fired by the Indianapolis Colts. Would he be an upgrade for the Pittsburgh Steelers as their offensive coordinator?
Mid-way through the 2022 NFL season, the Indianapolis Colts made a move the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t had the guts to make: they fired their offensive coordinator. However, the Colts took this one step further. After parting ways with OC Marcus Brady, the team recently axed head coach, Frank Reich. This one came as a bit of a surprise (especially considering that they replaced him with Jeff Saturday).
While I certainly don’t want the team to fire Mike Tomlin and hire a former player as their interim head coach anytime soon, I do wonder whether or not the team would consider swapping Matt Canada for Frank Reich.
Prior to being let go, Reich’s offense with the Colts was dead last in the NFL. This might have had something to do with the abysmal quarterback play he received from Matt Ryan and, most recently, Sam Ehlinger. Both clearly looked like NFL backups in 2022.
Though Reich’s firing might have been justified, there’s plenty of reason to believe that he would be a noticeable upgrade over Canada for the Steelers, and now that he’s available, he could very well be on their radar.
Steelers could pursue Frank Reich as OC
I’m not a huge fan of signing re-tread former NFL head coaches for a coordinator position — especially after coming off a failed season. However, nobody is going to deny that Reich has had success in the past. Though he struggled in his first few seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Chargers and Eagles, he really hit his groove in 2017.
As Philadelphia’s OC, Reich’s offense ranked 3rd in the NFL in points per game and 7th in yards in 2017. From there, Reich became the head coach of the Colts and finished the next four years with the 5th, 16th, 9th, and 9th highest-scoring offenses, respectively. This year, his offense ranked 32nd in scoring before being fired after a Week 9 loss.
Reich also had a hand in developing his understudy, Nick Sirianni, as they worked together from 2018-2020. Now Sirianni is a Coach of the Year frontrunner thanks to how he has helped turn the Eagles around.
Reich might not be the perfect choice as the Steelers offensive coordinator, but it doesn’t get much worse than Matt Canada. If Pittsburgh’s OC has one more dismal game, perhaps they reach out to an experienced OC like Reich to be an interim OC for the rest of this year. If things go well, I can see the Steelers locking him into a deal.
Even if the Steelers elect to stick it out with Canada for the rest of the year (which seems likely at this point — considering the chances they’ve had to get rid of him already), Reich could prove to be a top candidate for the OC job in 2023.
My preference all along has been to get a young, innovative offensive mind in there who is aggressive and can jumpstart the development of his young quarterback. However, I wouldn’t put it past the Steelers to have their eyes on a coach with past success like Frank Reich to be their next offensive coordinator.