Tim Benz: ‘Fire Canada’ chant is one thing, but a few other words come to mind when watching Steelers’ offense
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Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada had the “f-word” hurled his way at Acrisure Stadium on Monday night.
No. Not that one. At least not chanted in unison by a few thousand people.
Individually? Yeah, I’m sure a few stray f-bombs were chucked at Canada from the stands.
But I’m talking about the mass chanting of “Fire Canada! Fire Canada!” in the fourth quarter of Monday’s 26-22 win over the Cleveland Browns.
Fire Canada chants pic.twitter.com/9E91QR4Ppm
— Kyle Garay (@kylecgaray) September 19, 2023
Former Penguins general manager Ron Hextall knows how that stuff turns out.
That’s another “f-word”: former.
Although the Steelers already had their chance to attach that descriptor to Canada’s job title this offseason. Instead, they decided to (for whatever reason) keep him in place.
That crowd angst swelled to the point of chanting for Canada’s dismissal after a quizzical, rarely used read-option keeper by Kenny Pickett on the game’s most important snap. It was a third-and-1 at their own 31-yard line with three minutes left. If it worked, it could’ve resulted in the Steelers eventually killing the clock. Instead, the Browns killed the play and could’ve killed Pickett.
“The (defensive) end spiked it. They brought the backer around. It felt like they were crashing the run. We tried to get outside of them. Didn’t pan out that way,” Pickett said.
So here we are. Still discussing bad offense by parsing whether it’s poor play calling and design from Canada or lousy execution from Pickett and the rest of his offensive teammates.
The Steelers’ biggest issue appears to be that a strong case can be made in either direction, as was the case many times last year. And the year before that in Canada’s first season, which was also Ben Roethlisberger’s last.
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Here’s the problem for the Steelers. The team isn’t likely to bench the first-round pick, hometown college hero, perceived franchise quarterback anytime soon. Especially not for a guy in Mitch Trubisky that they benched already. And if they do decide to fire Canada, it won’t be until the bye week (three games from now) at the earliest.
Even in the unlikely event they do that, you can bet the only change that will happen will be promoting Mike Sullivan from the quarterback coaching position to coordinator. After all, Sullivan has been a coordinator in the NFL before. Plus, that’s how Canada and Randy Fichtner got the OC job in the first place.
So, in other words, the more things change, the more they stay the same. After an entire summer of hyperbole about how much the offense was going to evolve, it looks to be stuck in the same rut we have been subject to watching pretty much since Roethlisberger blew out his elbow in 2019.
“We’ve got planning (for) next week. We have a game coming up in six days. It doesn’t make sense for me to divulge it in this setting. We’ll let that do our talking,” coach Mike Tomlin said.
Well, then I expect it to be a short speech. Like, Bill Mazeroski at the Hall of Fame kind of short. But probably a whole lot less endearing.
At least the Steelers are about to play the Raiders. They are giving up 27 points per game so far, one more than the Steelers. They allowed 38 points and more than 450 yards of total offense to the Buffalo Bills this weekend.
Then again, the Steelers offense isn’t exactly Buffalo’s, is it?
“We just kept battling offensively, trying to get something going. Our defense kinda saved the day for us,” center Mason Cole said after the game. “It wasn’t the plays called, it was just a lack of execution … again.”
And again. And again.
But I wouldn’t absolve the play calling, either.
Again.
One thing is for sure, counting on your defense to outscore your offense isn’t a very sustainable formula for success in the NFL. However, for a franchise that now defines success by the number of consecutive non-losing seasons for its head coach, maybe it can come close.
Frankly, any visions of attaining something higher than that level of mediocrity in 2023 are quickly fading as we get further away from that magical preseason of offensive perfection that featured five touchdown drives in five tries for the first-team offense.
Suddenly, another “f-word” is coming to mind as I think back to what those aspirations were for this offense by the end of the preseason.
“Fantasy.”