Mike Tomlin made wholesale changes to his offensive coaching staff after the Steelers collapsed over the final six weeks of the season. He did not renew the contracts of offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner or offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett.
Instead of bringing in someone from the outside, Tomlin hired from within. Matt Canada, who had one season of NFL experience on his resume, was named his new offensive coordinator and Adrian Klemm his offensive line coach.
They were charged with the task of lifting the offense out of its funk. Those moves were necessary after the Steelers lost five of their final six games, but the changes haven’t produced a better offense this season.
As hard as it is to believe, things have gotten worse.
After 11 games, the Steelers are averaging 20.4 points per game. They have scored 17 points or fewer six times already this season.
Last season under Fichtner, they averaged 26.0 points per game and were held to 17 points or fewer only three times — all in a three-game stretch last December.
The Steelers scored 17 points or fewer seven times during the 2019 season, but that was the season they played the final 14 games with Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges at quarterback.
The previous time the Steelers scored 17 points or fewer this often with Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback was 2011, when they scored 17 or fewer seven times. But the big difference between that team and this team is the defense.
The Steelers were so good on defense in 2011 that they went 4-3 in those games and finished 12-4. This team is 1-4-1 in such games and will carry a 5-5-1 record into the game against the Ravens at Heinz Field on Sunday afternoon.
Could changes be on the way?
“You know, we’re open to doing whatever is required to change what’s trending,” Tomlin said.
Tomlin seemed most disappointed in being dominated at the line of scrimmage. The Bengals rushed for 198 yards and limited the Steelers to 51 yards rushing. It was a historic beat down of a proud franchise that used to dominate opponents in such a manner.
Now it’s the Steelers who are being bulldozed into submission. The Steelers will enter their Week 13 game against the Ravens with the 28th-ranked rushing offense and the 29th-ranked rushing defense. The terrible rushing offense is nothing new, but it might have been decades since the Steelers were this bad at stopping the run.
“You could attribute it to whatever you want to attribute it to,” Tomlin said. “The bottom line is it was done. They won that Mano-a-Mano component of play much too often.”
While Tomlin said he is open to making changes, there isn’t really anything he can do to shake up his lineup.
After the Steelers gave up 533 yards and 41 points to the Chargers last week, he took the blame and said he should have been more creative with the personnel challenges he faced in that game with so many of his key players out with injuries. He lamented not doing more things that were out of the team’s personality to address the deficiencies.
So against the Bengals, Tomlin did go outside the Steelers’ personality and started his best defensive end at nose tackle in an effort to shore up his shoddy run defense. Cam Heyward, as always, does what’s asked of him, but it turned out to be a panic move by Tomlin. The run defense was worse against the Bengals.
Tomlin could have benched Devin Bush weeks ago, but he refused. Now he can’t because Robert Spillane has a knee injury.
And what changes could be made on offense?
They started their third-string guard on Sunday, and B.J. Finney couldn’t make a difference with Kevin Dotson and J.C. Hassenauer out with injuries. The one change Tomlin can make is starting Zach Banner at right tackle.
Banner earned the starting job last season before an injury in the season opener forced him to miss the rest of the season. He was penciled in as the starter this season before he had a setback with his reconstructed knee.
Put Banner in and see what happens, but it probably won’t get any better.
The Steelers don’t have enough quality depth to withstand the injuries they’ve suffered. In the end, Tomlin has to figure out a way to get more out of his starters when it doesn’t appear they have anything more to give. And he has six games to do it.
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rayfitt1.
First Published: November 29, 2021, 3:00 p.m.
Updated: November 29, 2021, 3:13 p.m.
