NFL Rumors: Steelers fans stopped Mike Tomlin from making a catastrophic mistake

The Pittsburgh Steelers fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada halfway through his third season in charge of the offense. Frankly, it was not going well. Kenny Pickett's growth had been stunted. The run game didn't show much promise, and the Steelers ranked near the bottom of the NFL is most major offensive categories.

So, Mike Tomlin did the right thing and let Canada go. The noise had grown to a deafening level at nearly every Pittsburgh sporting event. 'Fire Canada' had become a Steelers Sunday staple. Tony Dungy, who is a legendary coach in his own right and friend of Tomlin's, claims the outside influence made a difference.

“He said, ‘You know what, I needed to do it because everybody was feeling the crush of it, and Matt Canada couldn’t even be himself,” Dungy said. “‘And so, for all of us, I had to make that move, and everybody responded.”

Steelers: Did Mike Tomlin wait too long to fire Matt Canada?

Perhaps I'm reading too far into this, but that doesn't sound like Tomlin fired Canada over performance issues. Tomlin's loyalty, as Dungy and Rodney Harrison mention in their segment, is much of what his players and assistants love about him. Had Steelers fans not made their presence felt, there's a decent chance Canada could still be on the sideline next Sunday.

Upon firing Canada, Tomlin spoke to the lack of continuity on offense, and improvement at key positions like quarterbacks.

“We just have to have increased fluidity down in and down out, things happening on time. And that’s the best way to probably describe it,” Tomlin said at the time, per Pittsburgh Sports Now. “The more fluidity in what you work with as a collective – and it should increase as the season goes on – it smooths out negativity, whether it’s penalties due to poor technique, or lack of awareness, or negative plays because of identification, and things of that nature, and it should increase the probability of explosion plays just simply because of cohesion and understanding and playing faster because of exposure.”

Canada's leash was far too long to begin with, as there's an argument he shouldn't have been brought back for the 2023-24 season at all. In the end, Steelers fans saved Tomlin from himself, and one of his best qualities as a head coach.