Now that the Steelers have made it official with Matt Canada as their new offensive coordinator, the next question is what exactly it will mean for the team's offense?
When asked about Canada's hiring last season by members of the Baltimore media -- who were interested in Canada's rise from the interim head coach at Maryland to Steelers quarterbacks coach -- Mike Tomlin said it was the outside perspective Canada brought to the job.
“I just liked the different approaches (and) outside-the-box thinking," Tomlin said. “I just thought he had a different eye, if you will, to our process. We take a collective approach to a game plan formation and little trinkets and things of that nature. He just brings a different perspective."
Now, Canada will bring the main perspective.
The hiring of Canada is one of the most important Tomlin has made in his 14 years as the team's head coach. It comes at an important crossroads in team history.
Canada was coming into an interesting situation a year ago with the Steelers. Former offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner and Ben Roethlisberger had been together for 14 seasons, the last 11 of which had been with Fichtner serving as quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator.
They were close. Perhaps too close.
And though Canada spent the season working with Roethlisberger as his position coach, one year does not equal 14.
That said, the hiring of Canada over the outside candidates -- Hue Jackson and Pep Hamilton -- means the Steelers can keep some continuity in their offense. They won't need to change terminology. The entire offense doesn't need to be blown up -- just tweaked.
After all, the Steelers averaged 26 points per game last season, though that average tailed off down the stretch.
Fixing the running game will clearly be the mandate. After averaging 129.7 rushing yards in their first seven games, the Steelers had 100 rushing yards just one more time during the season, finishing dead last in the NFL at 84.4 yards.
But that's obviously Canada's strength. His offenses feature plenty of pre-snap motion and misdirection.
The Steelers used some of that early in the season, then began moving away from it as the season wore on.
"I'm coming in and joining what we're doing here," Canada said in training camp when asked in training camp what he would bring to the table.
"I've always enjoyed that (misdirection) part of the game. We were doing it probably starting all the way back in 2009, or so (at Indiana). Certainly at Wisconsin in 2012 we started having some fun with it, so it's been part of what we've done in the past. But again, I am coming in here and more focused on learning our system and getting going with what we are doing here."
That won't be the case now. Now, he'll be in charge.
And while he'll be respectful of Roethlisberger's input -- assuming the quarterback returns for his 18th season -- he'll ultimately be responsible for making the calls of what the team does offensively.
Canada addressed that, as well, the one time he spoke to the media during the season -- during training camp.
"Ben has way more experience than I could ever imagine having in the NFL, so I am listening," said Canada. "We've talked. Reads, concepts, and those things. How he has done it, and what he has done. I think football is football, but it's a different game (in the NFL). There are parts of it that are different that I've tried to learn, and I certainly have a long way to go, and that's why I'm excited with where I am."
To Canada's point, until this past season, all of his coaching experience had come at the collegiate level.
But the past decade took him to some interesting stops.
In 2012, he was offensive coordinator for a Wisconsin team that featured Montee Ball (1,830 rushing yards), James White (806) and Melvin Gordon (621) as the Badgers went to the Big 10 Championship game.
In 2013, he moved to North Carolina State to become offensive coordinator under David Doreen, under whom he had previously coached at Northern Illinois. The Wolfpack went from 3-9 and averaging 22.8 points per game in his first season, which ranked 98th in college football, to 8-5 and averaging 30.2 points per game in his second season, which was 57th in the NCAA. In his third season, the Wolfpack averaged 33.2 points per game, good for 41st in college football.
But he was not retained by North Carolina State after that season, joining Pat Narduzzi's staff at Pitt in 2016. The Panthers averaged 28.2 points per game in 2015, but saw that jump to a school-record 40.9 points per game in 2016, ranking 10th in the NCAA.
That led to Canada being lured away by LSU in 2017. But the Tigers averaged 27.2 points per game that season, a slight drop from the previous season. After that season, Canada and head coach Ed Ogeron decided to part ways.
Canada was hired by Maryland in 2018 as offensive coordinator, but became the school's interim head coach when D.J. Durkin was placed on administrative leave following the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair during a team workout. Despite the turmoil surrounding the death, the Terrapins went 5-7, with Anthony McFarland, who just finished his rookie season with the Steelers, rushing for 1,034 yards.
It was his stops at Pitt, which shares a training facility with the Steelers, and Maryland, where Tomlin's son, Dino, was recruited to play wide receiver, that Tomlin got to know Canada.
But don't mistake, that's not why he was hired. In fact, when asked about the hirings of both Canada and wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard prior to last season, Tomlin said knowing the duo was part of it. But not the only part.
“I’ve known both men a number of years. A lot of the guys on our staff have. So there are a lot of things to call upon," Tomlin said.
He obviously liked what he saw in his one season in working with both, particularly Canada.
Mason Rudolph, in particular, was quick to credit Canada with his improvement this season.
"I think I’ve learned a lot from Ben. I’ve learned a lot from Randy Fichtner. I’ve learned a lot from Matt Canada," Rudolph said. "Having a quarterback coach this year has been big. As a quarterback, mentally, physically, there are things you work on.
"It’s been great."
Now, they'll have a different relationship -- less mentor and more boss.
That will be the biggest impact Canada will have on the Steelers' offense moving forward. Not only will he be in charge of what the team does offensively in 2021, he'll also have a hand in helping the team pick its successor to Roethlisberger, whether that be Rudolph or someone else.
It will be a critical moment in franchise history and one the team can't afford to mess up.
Tomlin is staking his coaching career on the hiring of Canada. By extension, the Steelers have staked the direction of their franchise on him for years to come, as well.