Steelers Rumors: Internal Matt Canada replacement, Calvin Austin frustration, bench Pickett?

Steelers Rumors: O Canada, No more Canada. QB coach Mike Sullivan could step up as offensive coordinator

Two weeks into the 2023 season, Steelers fans are already calling for Matt Canada's head. No one can really blame them given the team's offensive performances of late.

Had the Steelers' defense not balled out in Week 2, Pittsburgh could very well be staring down a 0-2 start to the season with little to look forward to. Kenny Pickett has barely stepped forward, much less taken a Year 2 jump. Offensive starlets Najee Harris, George Pickens, Pat Freiermuth, and others haven't generated many big plays. As is the norm, the Steelers' offensive coordinator, Matt Canada, is baa-ing as the scapegoat and sitting squarely on the hot seat.

If the Steelers do decide to ditch Canada early this season, their OC solution could be staring them right in the face.

Kate Magdziuk of Behind The Steel Curtain proposed that the Steelers could elevate current quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan to offensive coordinator and see if things play out a little better.

Sullivan has been in the NFL since 2002, working his way up from a defensive coach in Jacksonville (he was a defensive back in his football-playing days) to a wide receivers coach with the Giants to his current position on the Steelers, among other stints in between.

He actually did serve as an offensive coordinator for four years in his career, doing a two-year stint in Tampa Bay and a two-year stint with the Giants. Sullivan didn't garner much statistical success as an OC with those two teams, but maybe his growth throughout his past three years in Pittsburgh will help buck that trend?

The biggest thing Sullivan has going for him, as Kat Magdziuk writes, is that he's an in-house candidate.

"If the Steelers were to finally move on from Canada, it’s reasonable to look toward someone who Is familiar enough with the offense so that it would not have to go through a full overhaul midseason. It’s also helpful to have someone in the mix who’s been coaching second-year QB Kenny Pickett since he was drafted last season -- someone who’s watched his development closely, knows his strengths, and more importantly, knows his weaknesses, and is willing to game-plan in a way that minimizes them."

After the first two games of the season, how worse can it get, anyway?