When we woke up Sunday morning, we were excited because we really thought we would see the new and improved Pittsburgh Steelers take on the San Francisco 49ers. Four grueling quarters later and this did not happen.
Instead, the Steelers got drummed out of their own stadium to the tune of a 30-7 loss with failures in all three phases. Perhaps the biggest surprise from the game was just how poorly the Steelers offense performed. A fact not missed by ESPN analyst Pat McAfee. And he did not let offensive coordinator Matt Canada off the hook for it.
“Matt Canada is the Steelers Offensive Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I know he’s taking on the 49ers,” McAfee said. “He was supposed to be better this year because last year he had his hands tied because of a Rookie QB. Didn’t want to do too much. They look like the same old Steelers.”
If you want an illustration of the point, Pittsburgh has played 36 straight games with Canada as OC without netting 400 yards of offense. Nine teams have done it at least 10 times during that same stretch.
Having said that, Sunday’s loss falls on quarterback Kenny Pickett far more than Canada. In fact, I don’t have any real criticism of Canada in the game. He didn’t make the offensive line block so poorly and his scheme didn’t make Pickett miss on so many throws.