They'll soon pile another layer over that freshly painted slogan on the fabled Fence at the heart of Carnegie Mellon University's Oakland campus. They'll bring down that billboard towering above the Homestead Grays Bridge. They'll be chanting nothing but hockey chants at PPG Paints Arena, where the Penguins and Rangers will face off Thanksgiving Eve. They'll go dark on the social media platforms, the live streams, the Downtown office water-coolers.
All because our long civic nightmare, one that'd expanded -- no, erupted -- into a full-scale fan rebellion as vocal, as visible, as outright vitriolic as any I've covered in a lifetime on our city's sports scene ... it's over.
Ding-dong, my friends: Mike Tomlin's finally fired Matt Canada.
Yeah, really.
It began with this team-distributed release at 8:41 a.m. Tuesday ...
... it rolled right through Tomlin's extraordinary press conference at noon, and it segued smoothly into what, at least from my ability to gauge public reaction, could only be described as a collective euphoria. Not quite at the scale of Mario Lemieux emerging from retirement to play for the Penguins in 2000 or Bob Nutting selling the Pirates at any point between now and the nearest Armageddon, but not all that far from either, if I'm being blunt.
Such was the level of Canada's villainy, real or perceived, fair or not.
It was, unto itself, amazing. I wonder if we'll ever see anything like it again.
But again, it's over.
Tomlin summoned Canada to his office at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex not long after dawn Tuesday, this after meeting with Art Rooney II, Omar Khan and Andy Weidl the previous day to discuss his decision and, of course, to seek the ownership approval that'd be routinely required with any move this significant. He received that, he delivered the news to Canada, and the architect of the ugliest NFL offense most of us Pittsburghers had witnessed in a lifetime was headed out to the parking lot.
Soon after, Tomlin informed Eddie Faulkner, the running backs coach, that he'll be the new offensive coordinator, and Mike Sullivan, the quarterbacks coach, that he'll be the new in-game playcaller.
I've got thoughts on this, as everyone seemingly does. Tons of them. So, rather than insulting everyone's intelligence and ranting toward yet another recitation of the countless reasons Canada should've been removed from this position, oh, say, two years and 10 games ago, I'll instead scatter some of those below in bullet form:
• Yes, it was Tomlin's decision. He initiated it, he pushed it, and Rooney, to repeat, allowed it. Anyone anywhere suggesting otherwise is mistaken and, ultimately, will prove to be mistaken.
Look, I get that this storyline isn't as much fun and that it won't fit the narrative that'd be friendliest to the anti-Tomlin faction that's -- fairly -- growing with each passing Sunday, but that doesn't make it any less true. I'm not guessing at this.
• Per Tomlin's own description of his decision, "Leadership is lonely. I don't run from it. I run to it. It was mine and mine alone."
If anyone accuses the man of lying about something directly involving his boss ... wow.
• To reiterate, though: I'm not guessing at this, and I'm not just relying on Tomlin's word, compelling and convincing as it was. This has multiple sources over the course of the day, which was the main reason I held off a few hours before writing.
• Part of me was surprised by the news, given that the Steelers haven't made an in-season move at head coach or coordinator since 19-freaking-41. But part of me wasn't.
That part that wasn't immediately flashed back to how I'd felt Sunday in Cleveland in covering Tomlin's borderline bizarre postgame press conference in which he appeared to be ... kinda OK with what'd just unfolded in that 13-10 loss. In fact, I'd invest the bulk of my column in his behavior there. I'd never seen him seem so nonchalant after a loss, much less one so rancid and, to boot, against an AFC North rival.
This could only be supposition on my end, but man, I recall experiencing at least a fleeting thought that he'd had some figurative burden lifted from his shoulders.
Maybe this explains that. Maybe it doesn't. Just sharing.
• Not that I'm painting Tomlin into any heroic role here. The extended employment of Canada should rank among the most embarrassing stains on his NFL career. And I wholly stand by my Sunday sentiment that his job should be in jeopardy if he can't sufficiently address this offense.
Remember: These players are his. Kenny Pickett's his. Najee Harris, too. All of them. All 53.
• Harris' remarks caught everyone's attention, obviously, and might've influenced the decision to the extent that Tomlin loves the kid and probably couldn't bear being the bad guy in the scenario.
I found it telling, on a related note, that when Tomlin was asked about his offensive group as a whole, he replied, "I'm looking at a group that has not sought comfort, that has not placed blame elsewhere. They've absorbed it. They've largely kept their mouths shut, they just go back to work, and they wait for the next opportunity. ... I know the type of people they are. I know the environment we have here."
• Faulkner loves Harris, too. He's treated Harris as special since his first drill of his first rookie camp. I can't forecast if he'll play favorites with Harris over Jaylen Warren, as Tomlin has, but I also can't know to what extent Faulkner will influence anything until a game's been played. Tomlin pledged that Faulkner will have "full authority" over the offense, but games change things.
• Why Faulkner as coordinator?
Beyond his offensive acumen and experience, he's also a terrific motivator. Where reporters watch practice on the South Side, the running backs are often closest, so I'll see and hear more of him than any coach, and he's both intense and impressive. He engages players. Eye to eye. Makes his points succinctly. Follows through to the extent that he'll even run through an example drill himself ... before letting Harris get the rest going.
• If Faulkner's on the sideline, as I'm expecting, then Sullivan might be in the booth. Neither of those were confirmed by Tomlin, but that'd allow Sullivan to keep his head -- and view -- clear while Faulkner, who Tomlin lauded for his "steady voice and demeanor," will do the direct communication.
• Out of 53 players, the number who'll be ecstatic about this development is exactly 53. Yeah, Pickett, too, though he'll be in no position to pipe up about it, unlike some others.
For the record, the players weren't required to be at the facility Tuesday -- they never are -- so Tomlin's first locker-room address on the subject will come Wednesday.
• No one will be happier than the great Chris Boswell:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) November 22, 2023
That was after a W in 2022. It's aged like Boz himself.
• Don't weep for Canada. He'll still be paid the full value of his contract, and he wasn't going to get extended under any circumstance. So he just gains a few months of fully paid leave and maybe even a head start on his next position.
• Sullivan hasn't earned many raves around the facility, either, and that's logical: He's the quarterbacks coach, and his quarterback's regressing with every single senseless spin to his left.
But understand that there's one playbook, there's scarcely any time to change anything -- some players in the fold have been practicing these Xs and Os for years, and most all of them have been doing so for at least months -- and Sullivan and offensive assistant coach Glenn Thomas might be the only two non-quarterbacks on the planet who can speak this particular language.
• Whatever the language, Pickett needs to get it soon. Although Tomlin casually replied, "He is," asked if Pickett's still the starter, there wasn't any indignation over being asked, as there'd been in the past. If I were No. 8, I'd have myself a day in Cincinnati.
• Stop with the Mason Rudolph nonsense, please. Not because it'd be wrong, but because it isn't happening. Mitch Trubisky's the backup in every way, shape and form.
• No one's about to consult me, but I'd begin my work as Faulkner/Sullivan by planting Pickett and Diontae Johnson onto two chairs in an isolated room, facing each other, and figuring out what the hell they're going to mean to each other. If anything.
• From there, I'd commission a local artist to paint on the offensive meeting room wall a giant landscape of the middle of the field. Make it look inviting, too.
• These two aren't in the running for future coordinator, certainly not in the moment. This is, by any non-hyperbolic measure, a panic move. Tomlin entered the season with less than a handful of coaches holding the keys to the offense, and this is how it's played out.
• Unless Rooney, Khan and Weidl are about to upend everything about how the Steelers have operated for a half-century, don't expect a solitary peep about that future coordinator until after the season. Because, per their way, all eyes will be on the Bengals ... and then the Cardinals ... and then the Patriots ...
• Charlie Batch? Byron Leftwich?
I love 'em both as people, but how about one of these up-and-coming, warp-speed-analytical, built-for-2023 coordinators other NFL teams seem to find with ease?
Enough of plucking from the next cubicle.
• As long as the head coach is feeling flexible, how about Chuks Okorafor back at right tackle, Broderick Jones back to the left, and Dan Moore back to the sideline?
Pass blocking's not exactly Moore's strength, and he was wholly unraveled by Myles Garrett in Cleveland. Can't have that and expect progress in the passing game. Besides, Okorafor wasn't bad before getting benched. Just said something dumb, as we all have.
• Thinking Pickett's entering this weekend with the most pressure?
Ha! Imagine Harris!
• All right, that's 22 bullets, in honor of Harris' role in all this.
It's a start. But that's all it is, or it'll just be another false start.
