Mark Madden: Steelers OC Matt Canada's real changes will start with Ben Roethlisberger's successor

Matt Canada is the Steelers’ new offensive coordinator — kind of.

If there was any doubt regarding who’s the real boss, Canada erased that Tuesday when he said, “We are going to do what Ben (Roethlisberger) wants to do and how he wants to do it.”

Meet the new bobo. Same as the old bobo.

Whether or not we get fooled again depends on if the offense works and the Steelers win. If those things happen, then the right decision was made. (The local stooge media will give it their stamp of approval regardless. I know that the hypnotized never lie.)

A commitment to the run seems certain. First-round draft pick Najee Harris makes that possible. A terrible offensive line may sabotage it.

But the commitment to the run starts with the owner, Art Rooney II. I saw him play intramural football at Duquesne University. He knows the game.

If it seems like I’m smirking at the notion of a 39-year-old Hall-of-Fame quarterback with two Super Bowl rings accepting radical offensive change in what is likely his final season, hey — guilty as charged.

Roethlisberger is going to line up in the shotgun and release the ball quick. That’s what he wants to do and how he wants to do it.

If Canada wants to institute real change, it will start with Roethlisberger’s successor.

There will be commitment to the run because that’s how dad and granddad did it — and also because the Steelers passed on 63.8% of their snaps last year, a drastic imbalance.

But that’s what Roethlisberger wants to do and how he wants to do it. Ditto running out of the shotgun on 82.5% of the snaps and using play-action just 6.6% of the time.

But Roethlisberger wants to win, too. If he can stay healthy, here’s predicting he has a very good season. But that’s a big “if,” especially at 39 and even more so behind that line.

Any change Canada implements offensively depends mostly on what Roethlisberger can do given his age and lack of mobility. Canada was wise to be verbally deferential to a quarterback of Roethlisberger’s pedigree and accomplishment. But perhaps he laid it on a bit thick.

What the Steelers need to win isn’t a new offense being force-fed to a 39-year-old QB. They need to give Roethlisberger some help. As in:

• Rookie center Kendrick Green has to start sooner, not later. B.J. Finney wasn’t good enough to start during his prior tenure. Why would he be good enough now?

• Guard David DeCastro has to conjure one more good year. (He’s not participating in minicamp. That’s not a good sign.)

• Tackles Zach Banner and Chuks Okorafor can’t stink. (Behind that line, Roethlisberger getting hurt is a much bigger concern than him playing poorly.)

• The Steelers need another edge rusher. They lack depth all over the roster. But edge rusher is code red.

• Key players can’t get hurt. Losing any one of a fistful of players would cripple their season, starting with Roethlisberger, Harris, T.J. Watt and Joe Haden.

• A longshot has to come out of nowhere to excel, or at least be decent: Perhaps Justin Layne or James Pierre in the secondary.

All that isn’t too much to ask, is it?

The Steelers have playmakers. That’s what’s positive.

But what’s negative will be cumulative. It will add up. Can splash plays overcome that?

It’s difficult to imagine Roethlisberger staying healthy and playing 17 games behind that line.

Here’s predicting he plays 13 or 14. (Let’s hope he misses games the Steelers would lose anyway. They don’t need Roethlisberger to get slaughtered at Kansas City. They might need him to stave off an upset at Cincinnati. Maybe that’s a bad example given last year’s result. Perhaps JuJu Smith-Schuster won’t fumble this time.)

Questions are being answered right now at minicamp.

That’s a whopper of a lie. Minicamp is utterly meaningless. Last year, the pandemic canceled OTAs, minicamp and exhibition games. But the NFL’s level of play was exactly the same.

Watt said minicamp is important for instilling “the Steelers way.” Did he say that with a straight face?