Tomlin’s firing of offensive coordinators — three over the past eight years — is truly “the definition of insanity”: From Arians to Haley to Fichtner

Todd Haley's offensive numbers are the best in Steelers' history

… instead of firing OCs, look in the mirror

At his season-ending media briefing, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, “I’m not going to maintain the status quo and hope the outcome changes. That’s the definition of insanity.”

Less than a week later, Tomlin slipped on a straitjacket and is hoping no one notices.

Replacing Randy Fichtner with Matt Canada as offensive coordinator is a matter of same thing, different bobo.

Mark Madden, Tribune-Review

When a football team collapses from an 11-0 start to a first-round exit from the playoffs, it is an indication that changes are needed. 

Mike Tomlin, the Pittsburgh Steelers coach who is 3-5 in the NFL postseason playoffs over the past decade, asserted in the above quote that he was not going to devolve into the Edgar Allan Poe’s “Raven,” the insanity where he hears something “tapping at my chamber door.”

Yes, those Ravens lasted longer than did the Steelers, and even worse, so did the Browns. The future of the AFC-North is becoming clear, and that 11-0 team may struggle next year with five players holding 70 percent of their salary cap. 

So, how did Tomlin rectify that possibility? 

He did exactly what he has done for that past eight years: Fired his offensive coordinator. 

This time, it was probably deserved, but the first OC that he fired about eight years ago is now going to be coaching in the NFC title game tomorrow. 

And the one he fired after that was ranked among the top in the NFL the year he was fired. 

How do I know this? Numbers tell the tale. 

And here they are.

Appointing your QB as OC

The truth is that the OC for the Steelers over the past decade when they have not come close to another Super Bowl berth is not really the guy who holds that title. 

It is the quarterback who has swooned late in the season and says he has to “play better” despite earning more than $20 million. 

So, in 2011, Tomlin fired Bruce Arians — actually it was Art Rooney who forced him to fire Arians — and Arians will be leading the Tampa Bay Bucs against the legendary Green Bay Packers tomorrow in the NFL title game. Some will complain that without Tom Brady, who has an infinitesimally better playoff record than the Steelers’ QB, is the reason for Arians’ success. 

They will be right to a certain extent — but the Bucs have a chance to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in history. 

Then, in 2017, Tomlin fired Todd Haley who, as I will show with numbers, had the best offensive numbers in Steelers’ history. 

Then, in 2020, Tomlin fired Randy Fichtner, the one who led the Steelers offense to that 11-0 start before collapsing late in the season [I am going to write about the reasons for that a little later.]

Scapegoating

So, we see a trend here. The Steelers have compiled the best offensive numbers in history — yet seem to collapse in the postseason. 

Now, in reality, I agreed with Rooney’s canning Arians. That is because the QB had convinced the OC that the path to his success, and the team’s, rested with the offensive strategy of throwing the ball deep. That is the opposite of what Arians is doing now with Tom Brady, who came to fame using Bill Bellichick’s version of the West Coast offense, throwing short passes — which Fichtner adopted. 

In addition, Rooney was upset with the Steelers’ lack of a running game under Arians, which is one of the reasons that they fell out of the undefeated range and lost four of their last five games. 

Roethlisberger was outraged at Arians’ firing.

The QB, who last year admitted to a problem abusing alcohol over the past decade, expressed his outrage with the firing of Arians, who was his golfing buddy. 

So, the QB hated the next OC, regardless of who it would be. However, from 2012 through 2017, he had his best numbers in history. 

Numbers don’t lie: Analysis

Here is a comparison of the numbers of Todd Haley and Bruce Arians as Steelers’ OCs,

Todd Haley Offensive Numbers

2012 21st in yardage, 22nd in points

2013 20, 16

2014 2, 7

2015 3, 4

2016 7, 10

2017 3, 8

Ben Roethlisberger, selected to pro bowl four of six years

QB numbers under Haley

2012 3265

2013 4261

2014 4952

2015 3938

2016 3819

2017 4251

24,486 of 60,348, 41 percent of his yardage, in Haley’s six season.

He averaged throwing for 4,081 yards per season

6 of 16 years

Arians’ numbers with the Steelers

2007-11, 5 years

2007 3154

2008 3301

2009 4328

2010 3200

2011 4077

18,060 yards total in five years, 3612 per season

Analysis

Haley took an offense that had been ranked in the 20s and had allowed Roethlisberger to be sacked an inordinate number of times, 50 in one season, to become an elite offense during his six years as OC. 

All the time, Roethlisberger hated him because he was not Arians. 

Then, Tomlin hired Fichtner, and the late-season collapses over his three-year tenure are now legendary,

1. Slip sliding away

Once a team known for strong finishes, the Steelers experienced a late-season collapse for the third season in a row.

In 2018, it was four losses in a five-game stretch that resulted in the Steelers missing the postseason for the first tchime in five years. Last season, it was three losses in a row that sent them to the couch with an 8-8 record.

This year, of course, the Steelers finished with five losses in the final six games. If not for the second-half comeback against Indianapolis, the Steelers would have lost six in a row after that 11-0 start.

The lack of a finishing kick is something the organization must address in the offseason. 

Joe Rutter, “5 things were learned: Late-season nosedive becoming a

 trend for Steelers,” Tribune-Review, January 11, 2021

Looking for a new Bobo

Mark Madden notes that until the Steelers have a losing season, Tomlin’s aura of invincibility with the Steelers’ owners will remain. 

However, blaming the OC has become a tiresome and ill-fated technique. Instead, he should be looking in the mirror, and ignoring his QB — or cutting his QB,

But, after collapsing at season’s end a third straight time, the Steelers needed to put somebody’s head on a pike to placate the citizens. Fichtner was already a popular scapegoat. Firing Tomlin wasn’t an option because the Steelers don’t do that.

So Fichtner took the fall. Now Canada will be Roethlisberger’s new bobo. The Steelers didn’t even interview anybody else.

Canada is marginally qualified at best. He’s never been a coordinator at the NFL level. In fact, this past season was his first coaching in the pros.

But he’s very qualified to be Roethlisberger’s bobo. As evidenced by the bells and whistles Canada wanted to implement in this season’s attack — pre-snap movement, jet motion, etc. — mostly disappearing after seeing use early.

Roethlisberger’s resume dictates he gets a lot of say to go along with a lot of respect.

But after the Steelers went from 11-0 to losing five of their last six and exiting in the first round of the playoffs in humiliating fashion thanks largely to Roethlisberger throwing four interceptions, an appointment like this should be somebody else’s to make.

Mark Madden, “Steelers promoting Matt Canada falls under ‘status quo,’ ‘

definition of insanity’,” Tribune-Review, January 18, 2021

Madden predicts a losing season in 2021, which may sound like insanity until considering the Steelers plethora of problems.