Kovacevic: It's not all Canada's fault, but fire him anyway ... like, a year ago

'FI-RE CA-NA-DA! FI-RE CA-NA-DA!'

In the event that anyone was still wondering if Pittsburghers could, in fact, reclaim their own NFL venue, that chant emanated from a vocal, even visible portion of the 67,576 on hand Monday night at Acrisure Stadium in the fourth quarter of the Steelers' eventual 26-22 victory over the Browns.

The time was 11:33 p.m., should history ever require it, and it immediately followed ... well, the dumbest damned thing I've seen in a lifetime of loving football:

That, my friends, is quintessential Matt Canada. He needs to cross the street, and he instead goes the full Ferdinand Magellan.

I feel silly even pointing out the stupidity, but for anyone new to this great game: It's third-and-1, the lead's only four points, the clock's ticking down to three minutes, there's a first-round running back on the field and -- this is my favorite -- the first-round quarterback was 11 of 11 in converting 1-yard keepers for first downs simply by plowing forward ... and then all those hieroglyphics happened up there.

In order: Najee Harris takes the fake like a champ. A bunch of wide receivers car-crash into each other. Allen Robinson totally lapses out on his assignment. Kenny Pickett rams right into the one Cleveland player being effectively blocked, by Darnell Washington. Pickett walks off the field looking up at the big videoboard to see what the hell just occurred. And all around him, the fans in the building wondered the same.

What was it supposed to be?

Pickett was asked with the first question of his press conference and replied, "The end spiked it. They brought the backer around. Felt like they were crashing the run. We tried to get outside of them. Didn't pan out that way."

Nope. And Canada hasn't panned out, either. No one needs my reminder of that. Nor that his next 400-yard offensive output in three-plus years with the Steelers will be his first. Nor that his offense has failed to score as many as 20 points in 28 of his 37 games. Nor that his offense has two whole touchdowns now through two games. Nor that the still-young, still-presumably-franchise quarterback's yet to pass for more than a single touchdown in any game. Nor that third-down conversions, the "weighty downs" facet that's become Mike Tomlin's own stated priority, are now 9 for 29. Nor that the running game, the stated priority of Art Rooney II every winter anymore, now averages 3.1 yards per carry.

The latter's the rough equivalent of falling forward flat on one's face. Which is all Canada's achieved in his tenure here. 

Most coordinators play chess. Some settle for checkers. He's staring at a blank bingo card.

A couple more, just to be mean:

Anyone really require elaboration on those?

The chants to fire Canada began, from what I was told after the game, in Section 133. And they almost instantly spread into this:

If that cadence sounds familiar, it should. It's the same one the Penguins' fans were using at PPG Paints Arena to urge the firing of general manager Ron Hextall. It was only a month later, coincidence or not, that they got their wish. The ownership group fired Hextall within hours of the final horn of the final game in Columbus.

What'll it take for Rooney, Tomlin and everyone else in the Steelers' hierarchy to do likewise?

Honestly, I can't even imagine at this stage. This moved beyond farcical a year ago. Now it's ... almost unfathomable.

It's not just that the offense is atrocious. It's not just choices like those illustrated above. It's not just nationally renowned football experts cutting up Canada week after week, as Warren Sharp did (again) after this game with this gem:

Tomlin himself noted in his postgame press conference that Cleveland's defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz, opened the game with five down linemen, essentially daring the Steelers to run. Which, like dopes, they did.

"Boy, it was tough sledding early," Tomlin observed. "It took us a while to get our footing there, to eliminate some of the negativity from our play."

Really? As opposed to -- sit down for it -- opting not to slam into a seven-man box?

Know this, though: The fans were heard. For whatever that'll be worth, they were heard.

Pickett was asked if he could hear the booing in the second half, and he responded, "No. We were locked in on winning the game. I was going over two-minute, four-minute scenarios with the guys, finding a way to win however we needed to at the end."

Funny, but the question never brought up when in the second half the chanting occurred.

• In fairness, Canada also was the coordinator for the Steelers' only offensive touchdown, a 71-yard pass from Pickett to George Pickens that couldn't have been prettier:

As Calvin Austin III told me, "There's nothing that guy can't do. People here tell me about what Martavis Bryant was like, and I believe them. George is ... special."

Pickens finished with four catches for 127 yards and the touchdown.

But even there, this marked the first time Pickens was given double-digit targets (10), which isn't OK and shouldn't have first required Diontae Johnson going on IR. Also, those slanting routes that kept working for Pickens were there all night for anyone, as had plainly evident from the Browns' previous game in Cincinnati. And yet, Canada targeted his main tight end Pat Freiermuth once, that on a lateral screen that gained 2 yards, and his other tight end Washington ... not at all. Again. Two weeks, no targets for the biggest target of all.

I could do this all day.

• The team's offensive MVP to date, no kidding, is Pressley Harvin. Dude was seriously epic in this one with seven punts for 320 yards, a 45.7 average and 40.0 net, as well as four planted inside the 20.

• Now, that said, Tomlin choosing to punt four times inside Cleveland territory is the polar opposite of what's recommended by football's advanced analytics, which really ought to identify such statistics as LIOF, or Living In One's Fears.

• Not to be that guy, but the Browns prevail if Nick Chubb doesn't get hurt. Their offense folded without him, first voluntarily by pretty much forgoing the run, then by virtue of Deshaun Watson just being all over the place.

• Chubb's the best. His loss is awful for Cleveland, awful for the NFL. Hoping for the best.

• Minkah Fitzpatrick's hit that felled Chubb was low, as he arrived after Cole Holcomb had him high. But no one on the Browns publicly spoke a syllable of criticism about it, and I'll be stunned if anyone does.

A closer, slower look with a warning that this is uncomfortable to watch:

Again, yeah, it's low. But the Browns know better than anyone that one tackler seldom succeeds against Chubb. And Fitzpatrick could just as easily be attempting to get underneath him for what'd be considered a conventional solo tackle.

“It hurts,” an emotional Myles Garrett would say after this. “That’s our brother, my brother. We’ve been here together for a long time. It’s a blow for the whole team, and this injury is awful. But we have to push on and come together as a team.”

Nothing critical of the hit. But hey, maybe Garrett will change his mind, oh, a week or so later.

• Anyone notice Garrett in the game, by the way?

His penchant for disappearing against the Steelers rolls right along, as he'd register one tackle and one quarterback hit ... against that offense. Yikes.

• Fitzpatrick's self-defense, if needed, would only be bolstered by the fact that he, too, went down after the Chubb injury. Was shook up and needed treatment before returning.

Not likely related, but he was hospitalized later for a chest injury sustained upon chasing down Cleveland's Jerome Ford from behind on a 69-yard run.

• AFC North football isn't anyone's cliche. It's real. And it can really hurt.

• A couple members of the Steelers' defense had a laugh with me over Watson repeatedly grabbing facemasks anytime they'd get close. Happened to Kwon Alexander, then Nick Herbig. OK, so Alexander offered a lot more than laughter, but it was all unprintable.

• Watson always seems to be putting his hands where they shouldn't be.

• No happy ending for Watson.

• I could do this all day, too.

• Exceptional crowd. "Absolutely incredible," as T.J. Watt assessed. As Pittsburgh as it gets, from the front row to the last. Kudos to all concerned.

• Look, I'm not about to slam the Steelers after any W, much less a divisional W. That's why I went the way I did with the main column. And though I didn't necessarily appreciate Tomlin's answer when asked a fair question about the offense to date -- "We're not going to apologize for winning" -- I'll always respect that he values nothing more than the outcome after any game.

That said ... there are 15 more of these on the schedule, and this team's going nowhere without an impactful change to that offense. 

It won't be Pickett. It just won't. Certainly not yet. 

The coordinator, however, has a due date that stretches as far back into the past as the last even semi-respectable showing for this offense. And, for that matter, the time's also long since passed where that's a reflection on Canada as much as it is on those still employing him. Because they're the ones overseeing it while pretending not to see it at all.

Or to hear it.