The Pittsburgh Steelers promoted Matt Canada to be the team's offensive coordinator after the 2020 season and it was originally thought to be an exciting move. Many of those high hopes have faded throughout the last year or so as the offense has performed extremely poorly on a consistent basis. The offensive line play is one of the biggest reasons for the lack of success, along with some other factors, but the play calling and overall predictability of the Steelers' offensive unit has been hard to watch. The organization is not known for firing coaches during the regular season, but it may be time to break that trend and move on from Canada.
Steelers offensive coordinator, Matt Canada on the field at 2022 training camp in Latrobe, PA | Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Last year, Canada had to work with an aging Ben Roethlisberger who didn't seem to have the arm strength that he did earlier in his career. It was believed that the conservative offensive play calling in 2021 was to try and play to the future Hall of Fame quarterback's strengths at 39 years old. With that said, Canada now has a much more physically capable signal-caller in Mitch Trubisky and everything is more of the same.
The Steelers only have 510 yards of total offense and two offensive touchdowns in the first two weeks. We may give Canada the benefit of the doubt if this were his first season, but it's not. It'd be shocking if his offensive schemes and approach worked even if it were Kenny Pickett starting at quarterback. The bottom line is that he was an average play caller in college and is not fit to be in charge of an NFL offense.
It has been shocking to see rookie wide receiver, George Pickens be targeted so little. It seems as if he isn't even part of the game plan. On top of that, the only part of the run game that worked in Week 1 was Chase Claypool's end arounds. The third-year wide receiver had six carries for 36 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals. Claypool didn't have a carry on Sunday against the New England Patriots. That one is truly a head scratcher.
Steelers wide receiver, Chase Claypool (#11) on the field at 2022 training camp in Latrobe, PA | Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
There is likely to be a quarterback change at some point this season if Trubisky's inconsistent play continues and that move could happen sooner than expected. There would be no better time to part ways with Canada in order to allow a new offensive coordinator to start things fresh with Pickett. It is extremely hard to win in today's NFL without a dynamic offense. The franchise knows what they are getting with Canada. Defenses are never surprised and the offense is a very easy one to prepare for.
Pittsburgh has a great defense, but has no shot at keeping up with certain teams coming up on the schedule like the Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles, among others. The offensive firepower that their opponents possess will overwhelm the defense and continuously putting up less than 24 points offensively is going to lead to more losses than wins.
The Canada experiment simply hasn't worked. There aren't many qualified candidates out there that would lead a worse offensive performance than we have seen the last two weeks. The Steelers need to get ahead of this and have him pack his bags. He isn't the answer.
It is important to echo how the Steelers run things. Should Canada be fired? Absolutely. Will he be in-season? It's unlikely, but the front office should absolutely be considering it on Sunday evening after another incredibly disappointing offensive performance.
Do you think it's time for the Steelers to move on from Canada? Let us know in the comments below!
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