Analyst: Matt Canada Must be Fired if Steelers Lose to Browns

Steelers OC Matt Canada
Steelers OC Matt Canada watches on during pregame warmups against the Titans, Nov. 2, 2023 - Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

Who deserves scrutiny for most of the year for the Steelers’ ailing offense, specifically now passing offense? That’s up to you, but one thing that is for sure is that Pittsburgh has struggled mightily to get anything going. However, Matt Canada is on the brunt of the blame from most talking heads in the media, which continued on Friday.

Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio believes that Canada should be fired if the Steelers can not outscore Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the Browns offense on Sunday. Kenny Pickett and the offense have greatly struggled outside of the ground game, and they need some spark through the air.

“If Matt Canada can’t find a way to put more points on the board than Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s Cleveland Browns, he needs to be shown the door and he needs to be fired after this game,” https://twitter.com/ZachGelb/status/1725652973441761441″>Gelb

said. “And don’t tell me there’s no point in changing the offensive coordinator or that you can’t do it. Because we just saw the Buffalo Bills get rid of Ken Dorsey coming off a loss. If you lose to Dorian Thompson-Robinson and your offense looks lethargic and putrid, I don’t want to see Matt Canada have a job on Monday. I don’t understand, when you have a team that has a great defense, a championship-caliber defense, and the offense has been horrendous, how you would be able to justify continuing with Matt Canada. It is the definition of insanity.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers, who are 27th in points scored, 30th in yards, have not given any real consideration to firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Part of the reason for that is that despite their failings as an offense, they have not turned the ball over. The Steelers have the second-fewest giveaways in the NFL this season with eight.

The Steelers are stoic by nature. They aren’t going to react to a few weeks of bad play. But the fact that the Steelers are winning while struggling has insulated them from having to make a change, and the fact that they didn’t provide themselves with a reasonable second option has made making a change at this point unattractive.

Then, there is the fact that it’s not only Canada but Pickett and other personnel issues that have fallen short. And while Dorsey got fired with the natural option of Joe Brady to fall back on, Pittsburgh does not have a similar name to do that with. As such, it makes moving on from Canada less palatable for Mike Tomlin.

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