Even though it’s only November, Pittsburgh Steelers Nation will tell you that when word spread that Matt Canada would be replaced, Santa Claus arrived a month early.

It is a shame Canada could never really find a way to improve his offense throughout his tenure in Pittsburgh, but many would agree this move was long past overdue.

This will leave the Steelers in a bit of an unfamiliar position, where it is the first time since 1941 that they’ve made an in-season coaching change. It’s unlikely a ton will change with the offensive system as a whole under the interim staff, but it’s important that they can at least get some sort of improvement out of Kenny Pickett.

As it stands right now, there aren’t a lot of sustainable aspects to build around with Pickett at this moment as a passer.

It is imperative they figure out what he excels at to help streamline how they will go about the offensive coordinator hiring process this coming offseason and figure out whether or not they’ll also be in the quarterback market as well.

Let’s run through a short list of offensive coordinator candidates that the Steelers must look at this offseason.

When it comes to play designs, Washington consistently finds ways to create favorable matchups with their usage of bunches, along with switch releases and helps mesh (pun intended) concepts together.

Here at the top, they run a variation of mills with a yankee concept that doesn’t put a ton of stress on the quarterback in terms of reads.

What is actually key about this play is the seven-man protection call, as this is a long-developing concept where the quarterback needs time to survey the field, and it is details such as this that were brushed to the side under Canada in Pittsburgh.

Grubb is currently the second-highest-paid assistant in college football at $2 million and is currently a semifinalist for the 2023 Ryan Broyles Award, which goes to the best assistant coach in college football.

With Michael Penix being among the listed favorites for the Heisman Trophy and being a potential top-five quarterback in his upcoming class, it could also plant the seeds for a potential NFL reunion as well.

tighter and heavier personnel, which helps keep defenses in base, which creates a ton of mismatches in the passing game.

This usage of heavier personnel fits perfectly with what Pittsburgh is building as well, but there’s also a lot of intent and setup behind the pre-snap motion of the offense that helps complement the play design.

Much of what Bobo has done with Georgia isn’t very dissimilar to what the previous coordinator, Todd Monken, ended up doing, and that is perfectly okay.

Bobo has been constantly taking ideas from other offenses all throughout football and even started implementing some of that cheat motion that the Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel popularized to start the year.

During his previous tenure as the Bulldogs’ coordinator, Bobo faced a lot of criticism and was perceived by Kirby Smart and the team as a retread hire.

Though he is the only head coach in Colorado State history to lead his team to bowl games in each of his first three seasons, this is not to suggest he didn’t have success outside of this season.

During his tenure, the Rams had three of the top seven scoring seasons, proving that his teams weren’t offensively incompetent.

Sometimes, you don’t need an innovator. You need a guy who isn’t afraid to take ideas from smarter people.

It’s a copycat league for a reason, and one of the main criticisms of Canada was that he seemed hesitant to borrow from around the league, especially in season.

With Carson Beck looking like one of the best quarterbacks in college football this season and his potential prospects looking bright for this, or potentially next year’s class, a potential reunion could also be in the cards if Bobo were to indeed be hired by Pittsburgh.

If this name sounds familiar, it’s because Jerrod Johnson was once a camp arm quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2012. Johnson got his coaching opportunity started when he worked with the 49ers and Colts in 2017 and 2019 under the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. He was then promoted to offensive quality control coach in 2020.

Johnson would continue to quickly work his way up, getting his opportunity to work under Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota as the team’s assistant quarterbacks coach in 2022.

Johnson is now working as the main quarterbacks coach in Houston, where C.J. Stroud is putting together one of the most impressive rookie seasons we’ve ever seen.

This could be a bit too early for Johnson to be promoted, but he’s worked under some great offensive minds that are sure to have rubbed off on him.

There is also a high likelihood of him potentially being promoted to replace Bobby Slowik, who seems to be a hot candidate for an NFL head coaching job.

That said, the small tie he has to Pittsburgh while working under Mike Tomlin could at least garner an interview in the hiring process. Definitely a name to keep in mind.

Klint Kubiak, the 36-year-old son of Super Bowl-winning head coach Gary Kubiak, is well-known in the NFL and is expected to be a top candidate for many offensive coordinator positions.

Working under his father, Kevin Stefanski, and currently Kyle Shanahan, he has had an amazing succession of coaches from whom to learn.

In 2010, Kubiak was hired by Texas A&M as an offensive quality control coach for the first time.

In 2013, he would get his first NFL shot as an offensive quality control coach with the Minnesota Vikings. In 2021, Kirk Cousins had what was perhaps the strongest statistical season of his career to that point during his first stint as a play-caller.

Kubiak has embraced a lot of contemporary NFL offensive concepts when it comes to using motion to enhance play design.

Although the Vikings only placed 17th in EPA per play that season, they were still quite good in advanced metrics for his first season calling plays.

Given that most offensive play callers struggle during their first game, having that early play calling experience and learning from one of the greatest football minds in the business, Kyle Shanahan, will undoubtedly pay dividends in the end. Without a doubt, the Steelers need to speak with him throughout the offseason.