On Jan. 18, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced they would be retaining offensive coordinator Matt Canada. For most of the 2022 season, fans and analysts speculated about Canada's fate. Many believed he would be fired during the bye week, but that didn't happen. Then some thought he would be fired at the end of the season, but that didn't happen, either.
Canada, who has one year left on his contract, is clearly in a position where he needs to show consistent improvement with the offense in 2023. While not calling him out directly, owner Art Rooney II said during his end-of-season press conference that the team needs to put more points on the board.
Mr. Rooney also said that the team's turnaround in the second half of the season was a major contributing factor to why they decided to retain Canada. Turnaround or not, it seemed that Canada's offense was missing that fire you need to win the game. It was short on touchdowns, especially in the red zone, and long on jet sweeps and short runs on long third downs.
Will The Steelers Lend Canada A Hand?
The rudimentary offense was more than just having a rookie quarterback. Kenny Pickett wasn't the only one who didn't have success. Veterans Ben Roethlisberger and Mitch Trubisky both struggled to run Canada's offense as well during his time as OC. This has led to speculation, and fervent desire, that the Steelers might bring in someone to help out the offense.
This would be a sort of advisor position, similar to what the team has done this year with Brian Flores on defense. Perhaps Flores will be offered a coaching position that better suits his expertise and that money would be available for an offensive guru.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac recently mentioned in a chat that he feels Jon Gruden would be a good fit.
Gruden has ties to Pittsburgh and to head coach Mike Tomlin. Gruden and Tomlin coached together for four years in Tampa Bay and won Super Bowl XXXVII in 2002.
Dulac also mentions that Gruden has another connection to the Steel City. He was once the wide receivers coach at the University of Pittsburgh.
He also agreed that this would not only fill a need for Pittsburgh, but it would help provide Coach Gruden with an opportunity for redemption.
Gruden fell from grace in 2021 after an investigation into the Washington Commanders (then Football Team) discovered emails written by Gruden to Washington's then-GM, Bruce Allen. In the emails, Gruden uses racist, misogynistic and homophobic slurs. This led Gruden to resign from his position as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
To some, the positives outweigh the negatives. Gruden has widely been considered one of the best offensive-minded coaches in football. His critics say that he isn't able to work magic on teams where the player deck isn't stacked in his favor. Still, there is no doubt that he could help to bring a spark to the Steelers offense.
Gruden laid low for less than a year and decided that was a long enough time out. He came out publicly and apologized for his words, but also defended himself by pointing his finger at everyone else and their regrettable actions.
Another issue is that Gruden sued the NFL and Roger Goodell for releasing his bigoted remarks to the public. They may not look favorably upon him returning to any team in the league.
While there is a benefit to having a coach like Gruden serve as an advisor, the question will be has he shown enough growth and true remorse, in a very short period of time, for the things he said in the past? Even more, does the Steelers organization feel that Gruden aligns with their own philosophies?
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