Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach, Mike Tomlin decided to not relieve offensive coordinator, Matt Canada of his duties during the team's Week 9 bye. At this point, it is likely that there won't be any big coaching staff changes in Pittsburgh until the end of the season. It would be shocking, given the organization's 15 points per game, if Canada was retained for the 2023 campaign. A complete turnaround would have to happen and with rookie, Kenny Pickett's growing pains, the offense is unlikely to be good enough for it to warrant a third season for the current play caller.
Steelers offensive coordinator, Matt Canada on the field at a practice during 2022 training camp at St. Vincent College. | Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Tomlin should already have someone on his radar and at the top of his list after the Indianapolis Colts fired head coach, Frank Reich on Monday morning. His offense has not been good this year, but he comes from a great coaching tree and has had success as he was 40-34-1 as the top man in Indianapolis. Tomlin has been criticized for his outside hires and promotions from within. This could put his critics to rest for a while.
Reich has coached under Jim Caldwell, Tony Dungy, Doug Pederson, Mike McCoy and even has some ties to Pittsburgh as he worked under former Steelers' offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt during the 2012 season in Arizona. On top of that, he has two coaches that worked under him that are currently head coaches in Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia and Matt Eberflus in Chicago.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - OCTOBER 16: Head coach Frank Reich of the Indianapolis Colts on the sidelines in the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lucas Oil Stadium on October 16, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
The Eagles currently have one of, if not, the most dynamic offense in the league and the Bears and Eberflus seemed to have figured out the correct way to use Justin Fields in the proper way. Reich and Sirianni continue to have an incredible relationship to this day and one can assume Sirianni learned a lot of his tricks from Reich when the two were together with the Colts.
"Anything and everything,” Sirianni said last year when asked about what him and his former boss talk about. “That's a guy I'm really close to and it's not just football. It's not just X's and O's. It's the communication with the team, leading the team and then just life in general as well."
While his offense wasn't dominant during his near five-year stint as Indianapolis' head coach, he won a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback in Nick Foles back in 2017 as the play caller for the Eagles.
We all know that Tomlin appreciates his ties to the University of Maryland and Reich is even able to check that box as he played quarterback for the Terrapins from 1981-1984 before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills. He played 13 seasons in the NFL, starting 20 games for the Bills, Carolina Panthers, New York Jets and Detroit Lions.
9 Nov 1997: Quarterback Frank Reich of the Detroit Lions prepares to hand off the ball during a game against the Washington Redskins at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in Landover, Maryland. The Redskins won the game 30-7. Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger /All
The run for Reich will be a popular one and he will be on many organization's lists to call plays in a few months time. One of the top destinations for him may be in Jacksonville and with his former mentor, Pederson. Tomlin will need to act quickly in January if he wants to make a pitch. Reich would have full control over the Steelers' offense while he might take a backseat to Pederson with the Jaguars.
It may be an extremely attractive idea to the former Colts' head coach to work and develop a young quarterback with a plethora of weapons on offense. It is absolutely something that Pittsburgh should sell to him if a job opening is available after Week 18. There will be other outside candidates that become available and current quarterbacks coach, Mike Sullivan will also get an interview, but Reich would be a tremendous hire for the Steelers.
Frank Reich would look good coaching the Steelers’ offense.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) November 7, 2022
This would be the first time that Tomlin hires someone who was just a head coach the year before to be an offensive coordinator since he brought in Todd Haley back in 2012. It's scary to think that he was probably the team's best offensive coordinator in the past 10 years. Tomlin needs to get this hire right if Canada is fired at the end of the season because Pickett's development will be resting in the hands of Canada's successor.
Would you support Tomlin if he brought in Reich to lead the Steelers offense in 2023? Let us know in the comments below!
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