Steelers are in unchartered territory following the dismissal of Matt Canada

Well, in case you have not heard the news, the Steelers have parted ways with Matt Canada, our offensive coordinator since the 2021 season. This is the first time in my fifty-four years on this earth and my forty-five-plus years of being a Steelers fan that we have made an in-season change at the offensive coordinator position, at least as far as I remember.

I will be the first to admit that I wanted Mike Tomlin to take action and move on from Canada, but if it was going to happen, I thought that the logical point in time would have been during the bye week, not with seven games remaining in the regular season.

That being said, we now have seven games to see what Eddie Faulkner and Mike Sullivan can do to help an offense that is struggling mightily. According to ESPN, the Steelers offense is currently ranked twenty-eighth in average yards per game at two hundred and eighty yards.

The fact that the offense can't generate at least three hundred yards per game is embarrassing. What else is embarrassing is the fact that we are ranked thirty-first, meaning next to last, in passing yards per game and are ranked twenty-eighth in average points per game at just under seventeen points per game.

The Steelers had no choice but to move on from Matt Canada

Frankly, there has been no improvement from 2021 to now, which is, in part, why I believe Tomlin made the decision to dismiss Canada. If you didn't listen to Tomlin's press conference, I would encourage you to do so. I found it to be enlightening and genuine.

When I heard about Canada being dismissed, that Faulker would be the offensive coordinator and Sullivan would call the plays, I immediately thought about how this change would and, frankly, should benefit Kenny Pickett.

Pickett needs to play better. I don't think there's any question about that, but I have always contended that with a better offensive coordinator in a better scheme, Pickett would at least have an opportunity to flourish. The question is will he flourish or will he flounder?

Hence, the reason we find ourselves in unchartered territory. We don't know what the tandem of Faulkner and Sullivan will bring to the table, as it were. We don't know if the scheme will change, although I anticipate that it will to some degree. It probably has to change in order for the offense to get out of the basement in terms of rankings.

Will Pickett have some say or involvement in game planning? Will Pickett be able to call his own plays if the situation presents itself? Will we become more of a 'ground and pound' type of offense or will we become more of an 'air coryell" type of offense? Again, unchartered territory.

Considering the fact that we are still in the hunt for a playoff spot tells me that Tomlin had seen enough and realized that things were not going to markedly improve under Canada quickly enough to be the difference between playing meaningful football in January as opposed to watching meaning football being played in January by teams not named the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Only time will tell how this move will ultimately be remembered, but, as of right now, we have to navigate unchartered territory with what I hope will prove to be determination and resolve as opposed to bewilderment and doubt.