There was universal rejoicing when the Steelers announced that they had parted ways with offensive coordinator Matt Canada a few weeks ago. Long hailed as the biggest issue on the team, firing Canada was a clear issue for this team. His offensive scheme was lacking and failed to both score and move the ball.
For those who felt like Canada was the only issue, they felt vindicated after the Bengals win. In their first outing without him, the offense went over 400 yards, ran the ball like they had scripted out this season, and actually won the game. Things weren’t perfect, but it looked a little brighter in the post-Canada era.
Unfortunately, this week was a shot back to reality for the team, as they lost to the lowly Cardinals at home. While the offense still had moments when they looked good on the ground, the team as a whole only put up ten total points to legitimately one of the worst teams in football.
This has once again caused Steelers Nation to be up and arms, but once again, I see so many making excuses for this team. From the injuries to the weather, quite a few fans have already come to terms with the loss and think that this will be a minor setback for an otherwise good/great team.
I’ve said this since the start of the season, and I still believe that it is true: Canada was an issue for this team, but he wasn’t the only issue. Sunday proved just that.
The Steelers have built things poorly
Fans were quick to mount all of their blame on Canada early in this season. Poor rushing output? Canada’s fault? Special teams lacked that week? Still because of Canada? My car didn’t start and I was late to work? Canada left my interior lights on last night!
Jokes aside, the echo chamber of Steelers nation had convinced themselves that once Canada was gone, this team would gel. Kenny Pickett would go from a middling option to a superstar and Pittsburgh would coast through the rest of the season. Their first win against the Bengals provided some more hope for that.
The Cardinals game was a shot back to reality for this team. They still struggle to make adjustments when needed, and the entire way they have built this team is inherently flawed.
Weekly adjustments have been lacking in recent years for the Steelers. It has been even worse with in-game adjustments. Pittsburgh seems to identify what they expect to see on Sunday and make it mesh with what they intend to do. The issue is, that sometimes these points are counter to each other, but the Steelers still opt to try and force the game to go how they want it instead of countering the opposing team and winning differently.
This can work if your team is truly that much more talented than the other team, but that is rarely the case in the NFL. This is why you have seen so many offensive coordinators and teams as a whole look so different in any given week. They keep the same concepts but structure their team to combat the opponent. They are trying to play chess. Pittsburgh is trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
Pittsburgh also has shown a tenacity to lose games that they should, in theory, win. This again falls on game planning and coaching. All you need to do is listen to Jaylen Warren say they took the Cardinals lightly this week. An attitude like that is toxic for a successful team.
The Steelers built to protect their new standard
One of the common talking points for Steelers fans is the high standard this organization has had. From giving coaches time to work kinks out to the long history of success and Super Bowls, the standard has long been revered in the city of Pittsburgh.
That standard has seemingly fallen in recent years, as the defense of the team and the coaches has become “hasn’t had a losing season” despite almost no playoff success in the past ten years. I give credit where it is due, it isn’t easy to win games at the NFL level, but to hang your hat on the fact that we have done just enough to avoid a losing season is silly.
The team has been building itself to protect that standard as well. While it is hard to fault the team completely for holding on to Ben Roethlisberger for as long as they did, their plan after him was pitiful. Instead of taking some risks, the goal was to be uber-conservative in this new era.
The Steelers invested heavily in the running back position, going against the grain of the modern NFL. While Najee Harris has found success, it hasn’t turned into team success to this point. The goal shifted from scoring points to limiting other teams in that regard and doing just enough to squeak out a win.
This isn’t to say a potent running game isn’t a good thing to have. When you are building your roster to rely on the running game with little else to hand your head on though, that becomes a problem. The NFL is in an era of big plays and high scores. Going counter to that can help you win some games, but will likely limit the overall success your team has every season.
In an era of Blitzkrieg and fast-moving offenses, the Steelers were still building trenches to hunker down into.
The Steelers proved this trend with their quarterback selection
The Steelers entered the 2022 draft with their franchise quarterback for the first time in almost 20 years. They had added veteran Mitch Trubisky to the room in the offseason, but given his struggles as a starter, that move likely wasn’t for the long term. That said, Trubisky was seen as the best available free agent, so it was feasible that he would start for a season or two if the team needed him to.
It became clear that they wanted a quarterback Despite that quarterback class being one of the worst on paper in recent years, Pittsburgh forced their hand and took Kenny Pickett despite his deficiencies. While the mantra of “don’t take the quarterback and wait until next year” is flawed, no one was high on the 2022 class and there was more to like on paper for 2023.
Taking Pickett forced the team to ignore needs elsewhere. The offensive line continued to deteriorate, the cornerback room lacked a top-level name, and the defensive line was devoid of talent minus Cameron Heyward. Instead, the Steelers got their guy in Pickett despite him lacking the top-level talent to be elite. There was definitely a better way to build this team.
All you have to do is look at a team like the Lions as evidence of how to do this. Despite numerous top draft picks and poor seasons, they opted to stand pat with Jared Goff since the quarterback they wanted wasn’t available. This allowed them to invest heavily in their offensive line and receivers while also building out their defense.
Even without an elite quarterback, the team around Goff is elevating him. Not saying that would have happened with the Steelers (Trubisky isn’t as good as Goff is), but what you could have done is instead of reaching for a quarterback in the first round, you add some better talent elsewhere instead. The team as a whole would have been better and eventually, the quarterback play would have caught up.
Why didn’t the Steelers do this?
That then leaves the question as to why Pittsburgh decided to operate like this. To me, it is a simple answer. There is a lot of inherent risk in rolling with a quarterback like Trubisky for a year or two. Namely, the odds would likely be that this team would have ended up having a losing season.
Personally, I am okay with that in the short term as long as it doesn’t become a lasting trend. Good teams can have off years, but if you are adding some premium talent and still building for the future, I am all for it. The alternative is settling for quarterback purgatory, where your starter does just enough to keep you in the middle of the pack but not enough to transcend that.
With two seasons of Pickett just about finished, I think it is safe to say that he is more of a purgatory quarterback than an actual great franchise option. Settling for him will lead to a lot of what we have seen so far. 9-8 seasons where the team does just enough for a winning record, but not enough to be competitors.
I’m nervous that that is the new standard for this team. Mike Tomlin defenders are quick to point to his streak of non-losing seasons, but is not losing enough? I’m not even in the adamant “Fire Tomlin” crowd, but I can admit that this team has a clear problem with him right now.
Firing Canada was a necessary move for this team, as he clearly wasn’t part of the answer. For those claiming he was the only issue or at least the only big issue, you were mistaken. This team is riddled with concerning problems. If they aren’t resolved soon, this team will continue to live in mediocrity.