On Nov. 21, the Pittsburgh Steelers made a move that many of their fans were clamoring for by firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada. The Steelers have a winning record in 2023. but anybody betting the over on them at Pennsylvania sports betting operators isn’t having a good year (unders are 9-2 in Steelers games this season).
In Sunday’s 16-10 victory over the AFC North rival Bengals in Cincinnati, the Steelers gained 421 total yards on offense. That was not only a season high, it was the team’s best total in a regular-season game since they churned out 429 yards in a 31-28 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Dec. 23, 2018. Pittsburgh snapped a run of 58 consecutive regular-season games with fewer than 400 yards, by far the longest streak in the NFL.
Still, those keeping an eye on Pittsburgh Steelers playoff chances will want to know: What comes next for a post-Canada staff under head coach Mike Tomlin? PennStakes.com came up with some candidates and their odds to be the next Steelers offensive coordinator:
Steelers Next Offensive Coordinator Odds
Interim OCs Top Our Odds
You can’t get these odds from PA sportsbook apps, only from PennStakes.com.
Two assistants are splitting Canada’s duties as co-offensive coordinators for the Steelers: Mike Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner. We give them both +700 odds, or a 12.5% chance, of being the permanent replacement to run Pittsburgh’s offense.
The way the Steelers characterized it is that Faulkner is handling day-to-day duties and Sullivan is calling the plays on game day. Faulker, 46, has been the Steelers running backs coach since 2019. Sullivan, 56, has been the team’s quarterbacks coach since 2021.
In Sunday’s game against the Bengals, Kenny Pickett had a season-high 278 passing yards, but was without a passing touchdown for the third consecutive game. The only Steelers TD came on Najee Harris’ 5-yard run in the third quarter. You can follow Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl odds with us at PennStakes.com.
Other Candidates To Replace Canada
There are five more candidates on our list – some are good fits based on their experience and one is a bit out of the blue but would certainly draw notice around the league.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich spent two stints with the Steelers as a backup quarterback from 2008-12. He ran Tampa Bay’s offense under head coach Bruce Arians (a former Steelers assistant) when the Bucs won the Super Bowl in the 2020 season. We give Leftwich a 9.1% chance, or +1000 odds, of landing the Steelers OC job (again, these odds are not listed with operators, many of whom offer PA sportsbook promo codes).
Up next are two current NFL quarterback coaches, both at +1500 odds (a 6.2% chance) – Scott Tolzien of the Dallas Cowboys and Alex Tanney, who is with the Philadelphia Eagles. Tolzien, a backup QB with the Packers and Colts from 2013-17, is in his first season coaching that position on Mike McCarthy’s staff in Dallas. Tanney shares more than just our odds in common with Tolzien; he also had a brief NFL career as a second-string quarterback and also was elevated to QB coach for an NFC East team this season. Both teams are among the Super Bowl favorites at BetMGM Pennsylvania Sportsbook; the Eagles are +400 favorites and Dallas has +1000 odds.
Finally, we have two intriguing outside candidates at +1750 odds, a 5.4% implied probability. Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, who has no NFL coaching experience, holds every major career passing mark in the Steelers record book. He played 18 seasons in Pittsburgh, also a franchise record. The other candidate tied for sixth on our list is former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury, whose stint as Texas Tech’s head coach was notable for the Red Raiders having one of the most explosive college offenses in the country. Arizona ranked in the top 10 in total offense twice in his four-year tenure as an NFL head coach, from 2019-22.
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