(Photography by Matt Freed on Twitter)
There is no question how bad the Steeler's offense has been with Randy Fichtner for the past several seasons. Even Ben Roethlisberger at times had to play backyard football because of how bad Fichtner was. Now the Steelers will not renew Randy Fichtner's contract (thank god) and they have instead promoted their quarterback coach to become their new offensive coordinator. Matt Canada will now take the reins and the Steeler's offensive scheme should change quite a bit... It will be interesting to see how much the offensive scheme will change while Ben is in town though.
Bleacher Report recently named 'Every NFL Team's Biggest Reason for Optimism,' and the Steeler's reason for optimism is their new brand of offense going into the 2021 season. There is no doubt that the Steeler's offense has regressed during the past few NFL seasons under Randy Fichtner. It ranked fourth overall in 2018, 30th in 2019, and 24th with Ben Roethlisberger in 2021 according to Bleacher Report.
The Steelers did miss the playoffs in 2018 and 2019. They did make it in 2020 but were bounced in the first round of the playoffs at home against the Browns. It hasn't been fun over the past three seasons being a Steelers fan. Could things change now that the Steelers have a new offensive coordinator? Only time will tell if Matt Canada can crack the code with the Steelers offensive scheme and finally bring Steelers football back to the way we're used to seeing in Pittsburgh.
Bleacher Report believes the Steelers should field a more balanced offense after acquiring Najee Harris in the 2021 NFL draft. They still feel Roethlisberger's arm is a liability going into the 2021 season, but Najee Harris will help the Steelers in a big way.
There is a lot of 'new' going into the Steelers' 2021 season especially in regards to their offensive line after losing Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, Alejandro Villanueva, and Mike Fieler during the offseason.
Now the Steelers will walk into the 2021 season with a brand new running game and offensive line. Only time will tell how much better the Steeler's offense will become under Matt Canada, but one thing is for sure they will need to look for a new quarterback to take over the reins for Ben Roethlisberger soon.