Steelers' Mike Tomlin Excuses Matt Canada For Cringeworthy Play-Calling In Heartbreaking Loss

The Pittsburgh Steelers had some hope going into their 2023 Week 8 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. They had just performed admirably against the Los Angeles Rams in a Week 7 win, but all promise drifted away as the Steelers struggled yet again on offense. Matt Canada has been horribly inconsistent with his play-calling during the 2023 season, and the only reason for their 4-3 record is the defense. Despite all this, Mike Tomlin just keeps the excuses coming without ever letting Canada take the rightful blame.

Steelers' Tomlin Shrugs Off First-Half Struggles

The Steelers fell to the Jaguars 20-10 at Acrisure Stadium, but the defense is the primary reason why Pittsburgh even remained in the game at all. Pittsburgh went three-and-out on four consecutive drives to open the game, something that is becoming a Canada specialty. At the start of the second quarter, the Steelers offense had managed to put together nine total yards.

When Tomlin was asked about the first-half offensive woes during his postgame press conference, the head coach had every chance to at least hint that their play-calling wasn't up to par, but that isn't what happened. Instead, the blame fell onto the execution of the plays and not the fact that they were tone-deaf and called by the least creative coordinator in football.

"You know, we missed a big play down the middle early. We missed another, you know, corner route early. You know, we just gotta execute better at the early portions of football games, obviously."

Granted, it would have been great if Diontae Johnson had caught that first big pass, but to give that as an example of why the offense struggled in the first half is perplexing, at the very least. Tomlin saw the same game we all did - cognitive dissonance aside - and yet, to him, everything would have been entirely flipped on its head if they had hit on those two examples he gave. That is a usually adept coach showing a distance from the reality happening on the field in front of him.

Steelers' Canada Just Keeps Escaping Having To Take Blame

It wasn't just that the Steelers had a challenging start to their Week 8 game against the Jaguars; their offense made it seem like a 6-0 lead by Jacksonville was practically impossible to overcome. When your offensive attack flails about for four possessions, doing nothing with any of them and punting on all four after three downs, someone has to recognize the obvious deficiencies going on.

After Tomlin practically ignored the first reporter's attempt to at least steer close to saying that the plays weren't what was needed, he was given another perfect chance to make up for the excuse. Tomlin was asked how much the three-and-outs ended up setting the tone for the game, something that Pittsburgh's coach didn't appreciate being asked at all. He cut the question off with his own response, not hiding how frustrated he was at even having to answer it.

"The early portions of the game doesn't decide the outcome. It doesn't. It usually doesn't, it didn't today. Obviously, you want more fluid starts, but it didn't determine the outcome of the game. As I mentioned, I thought the critical things were the things that transpired in the second half."

There is a difference between calling something a Tomlinism and the coach just saying words for the sake of having to have an answer. The lack of creativity was apparent on the early drives during their 2023 Week 8 loss, but Tomlin cannot bring himself to face the truth of the situation. The Steelers are indebted to their defense for the 4-3 record that has them still alive in the AFC, but the method by which they are playing isn't sustainable. This kind of team and the performance they left on the field against the Jaguars doesn't come close to competing with the elite teams in the NFL.

The Steelers have more than a few issues to solve, but the most glaring and obvious is their Canada situation. Until that is addressed, everything else has to come second because you cannot keep expecting professional results when you are allowing an incompetent coordinator the ability to build the game plan. The story of the 2023 Steelers will either be ridding themselves of or overcoming the Canada situation, or they will find themselves floating near the middle of the league again, hanging their hat on another non-losing season.

Will Matt Canada stay until the end of the 2023 season?