4 coaches the Steelers should fire on Black Monday

Steelers need to fire Mike Sullivan

While Mike Sullivan has partially taken over the role of offensive coordinator, that isn’t the reason for his firing. The offense has been okay with him at the helm, but it certainly hasn’t been spectacular. The reason he needs to be let go is because of his work in the quarterback room.

Has there been a bigger disappointment than the quarterback room for the Steelers this season? The hope was for some steady improvement out of second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett. He had found his footing towards the end of his first season, and he looked like an elite passer during the preseason.

Once the regular season began though, everything went up in flames. Pickett seemingly regressed from his rookie season, and the issues he had were amplified in year two. He was missing open receivers regularly, forcing passes he shouldn’t have, and he had no real pocket presence.

This hampered the offense beyond just the passing game as well. Defenses realized that simple coverages would negate Pickett throwing the ball, so they could load the box up and focus on limiting the run. This meant more responsibility on Pickett, which he couldn’t handle, and then rinse and repeat.

Sullivan is a very experienced coordinator, so it was shocking to see Pickett play so poorly under him. Perhaps he is just that bad, but then the struggles continued with Mitch Trubisky. Even if it was purely a player issue, Sullivan should have recommended a quarterback change. He hasn’t fulfilled his job this season, and I see no reason to keep him.