When the Steelers announced earlier this week that Randy Fichtner was not going to be retained as the team's offensive coordinator in 2021, they also didn't immediately announce a replacement.
This was despite the fact quarterbacks coach Matt Canada, who had just completed his first season with the team, had been reported to be interested in the offensive coordinator job with the Dolphins, who also were reportedly interested in him.
Then, Saturday, word emerged that Canada was going to be the Steelers' next offensive coordinator.
So, what happened?
It's likely that Mike Tomlin continued holding exit interviews with players and decided that with Ben Roethlisberger coming back -- and the Steelers would like him back -- that not blowing up the entire offensive scheme, verbiage and personnel was the best course of action to compete in 2021 rather than starting over on offense.
We saw the Steelers implement some of Canada's calling cards early in the season. There were plenty of jet sweeps and pre-snap motion. But as the season wore on, many of those concepts went away.
Why?
Well, the Steelers, like everyone else, didn't have an entire offseason to install a lot of new offensive concepts. They could install some of Canada's pre-snap motions and other scheme-related things. But they certainly didn't have time with 14 practices after the conditioning program was completed, to implement a lot of new stuff.
So, they had a handful of Canada plays. And once opponents adjusted to some of that, they didn't get used again as often as they had earlier in the season. The Steelers just didn't build off of those things, which weren't primary concepts within their offense and game plan from week to week.
There isn't a lot of time to learn a bunch of new things in-season with three two-hour practices each week. You can add to some things or tweak them, but complete installs just aren't possible.
Presumably, the Steelers will have a more normal offseason this year with which to implement some new offensive scheme-type stuff. But, they're also not completely throwing out the old offense, either.
And with Roethlisberger returning -- he's said he wants to play out his contract numerous times and there has been nothing that's come from the organization suggesting it doesn't want that, either -- that's what makes sense.
There's also this: Canada called the second half of the Steelers' regular season finale against the Browns, a 24-22 loss that saw them score 16 points in the second half and very nearly pull out the win against a team that needed the victory to get into the postseason.
And that came with Mason Rudolph at quarterback. As I wrote two weeks ago in the Friday Insider, Rudolph and Canada worked closely together and the quarterback appreciated what the coach brought to the table.
That's not all that strange. The Steelers would often allow Fichtner to call a preseason game when Todd Haley was the coordinator just to give him practice. And in this COVID era, having another play caller ready was a must.
He also worked closely with Roethlisberger this season, even if the veteran quarterback wasn't the best fit for a lot of the more creative concepts Canada likes.
That's fine. Good coaches adjust to the talents with which they have to work, not try to adjust their talent to their scheme. That's why Rich Rodriguez, for example, didn't work well in Michigan. He took a program that had a big advantage in acquiring offensive linemen and decided he would change that to fit his scheme.
The best coaches, as Bear Bryant was once described by Bum Phillips, "can take his'n and beat your'n, and then he can turn around and take your'n and beat his'n." They adjust to make it work with what they have.
Can Canada do that? We'll see.
Even if Roethlisberger were to suddenly walk away, Rudolph isn't exactly a super-mobile quarterback, either.
But Tomlin, whose seat is certainly getting warmer, is betting that Canada can adjust to work with what he has.
This is keeping the status quo without fully keeping the status quo.