Bengals are up first to face Steelers' offense after Matt Canada's firing
The Cincinnati Bengals will be hosting a different—dare I say rejuvenated—version of the Pittsburgh Steelers this week following the news of Matt Canada's firing as offensive coordinator. In an extremely uncharacteristic move by the continuity-obsessed Steelers organization, Canada has been relieved of his duties with seven games to go in the regular season. Two of […]
The Cincinnati Bengals will be hosting a different—dare I say rejuvenated—version of the Pittsburgh Steelers this week following the news of Matt Canada's firing as offensive coordinator.
In an extremely uncharacteristic move by the continuity-obsessed Steelers organization, Canada has been relieved of his duties with seven games to go in the regular season. Two of those games will be against the Joe Burrow-less Bengals, and the first one is in five days.
How much do the Bengals have to worry? That depends on what you want to believe.
Canning Canada was one of the most slam dunk firings in recent NFL history. Pittsburgh's offense has been out-gained by its opposition in all 10 games this season. The Steelers rank 25th in both EPA/play and success rate this year and rank 22nd and 25th, respectively, since Canada's hiring back in 2021.
Isolated from underwhelming quarterback play from Ben Roethlisberger's meek swan song to the uninspiring start of Kenny Pickett's career, Canada became one of the most heavily scrutinized play-callers in all of football. He had minimal support from fans, to analysts, to even his own players.
Head coach Mike Tomlin attempted to salvage the situation earlier this month by bringing Canada down from the booth to the field level. It worked for a week before more of the same results were laid bare for everyone to see.
Now, it appears Pittsburgh's running backs coach and quarterbacks coach will take over as the OC and play-caller, respectively.
The historical angle is simply shocking. It's been 82 years since the Steelers last made a midseason head coach/coordinator change. The attack on Pearl Harbor was more recent!
It's partly why the timing puts the Bengals in the crosshairs for the wrong reasons.
We've seen other NFL clubs experience immediate success upon making midseason offensive play-caller changes. The Las Vegas Raiders got rid of Josh McDaniels and immediately had their best scoring performance the first game afterwards. The Buffalo Bills made Ken Dorsey the scapegoat just last week and crossed the 30-point threshold Sunday for the first time since Week 4.
Call it a Dead Cat Bounce or a variant of it; the instant relief or freedom an offense can feel under a new direction is powerful. Simply the concept of doing things differently or under a different voice can be all a group needs to play harder and smarter.
Such an unprecedented move to rid of an unpopular decision-maker can spark an unexpectedly inspiring performance that the Bengals need to be prepared for.
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