Pittsburgh Steelers Fans ‘furious’ as devastating news blow revealed….
Steelers Absolutely Blasted For Settling For Ground Chuck Instead Of Sizzling Steak With Arthur Smith Hire
The Pittsburgh Steelers have established a few defining characteristics since they hired Chuck Noll in 1969. Pittsburgh plays a suffocating brand of defense that pushes the very boundaries of the rule book. The NFL was forced to change because the Steelers were too good on defense. The Steelers pick a coach and stick with them through thick and thin. Bill Cowher was the coach with the shortest tenure over the last half-century. He only stuck around for 15 years. Finally, Steeler Nation loves watching a physical running back pound the rock.
On Tuesday, Pittsburgh hired Arthur Smith as their new offensive coordinator. Smith was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons for the last three seasons. Before that, he spent two years as Mike Vrabel’s offensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans and helped resurrect Ryan Tannehill’s career. Smith’s offensive schemes should be a drastic improvement over Matt Canada. However, after being sold on real offensive change in Mike Tomlin’s season-ending press conference, the reaction in Steeler Nation has been mixed.
Colin Dunlap unveiled his reaction to the hire on the Tuesday edition of The Colin Dunlap Show on 93.7 The Fan. Dunlap opened his remarks by clarifying that he was willing to give Smith the benefit of the doubt as the new offensive coordinator. After getting the obligatory disclaimer out of the way, Dunlap put away the varnish and shared his real thoughts.
“I don’t like it, I don’t. I’m leaning toward why in the world would they hire Chuck Knox whenever there are so many people who are innovative,” Dunlap ranted. “In doing this, it’s glaringly obvious if you hire Arthur Smith that they know that Kenny Pickett has a limited skill set. Instead of blowing up this whole thing, they are going to try a workaround.”
Younger fans might not be familiar with the work of “Ground” Chuck Knox. Knox was the Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, and Seattle Seahawks head coach from 1973 to 1994. He won NFL Coach of the Year with all three teams. He was known for a run-heavy offensive scheme, hence the nickname. There is no disputing his regular season success. Knox finished with a career record of 186-147-1 in 22 seasons.
Knox won seven out of 18 playoff games during his career and reached the Conference Championship game three times with the Rams and once with the Seahawks. He won five straight NFC West titles with the Rams. It was a recurring theme throughout his career. He also won division titles in Seattle and Buffalo, becoming the first to achieve that feat with three teams. Knox returned to the Rams to finish his career and helped turn Jerome Bettis into a star before he was fired in 1995.
“What they are going to do is they are going to try to run the football. They are going to continue to try to win games 17-14,” Dunlap continued. “They are not going to go in a total different direction. It wouldn’t have been the way I would have done things. I would have blown it up. Arthur Smith, just like Mike Tomlin, just like the management style, just like the records of the Pittsburgh Steelers right now, it’s an Eat’n Park SuperBurger. Is it bad? Nah. Is it going to win Michelin Stars? No.”
Dunlap must have skipped dinner on the way to his Tuesday evening show because the hamburger references were coming fast and furious. Smith’s biggest success as a play-caller was in 2020, with Derrick Henry pounding the ball for the Titans, and Tannehill throwing for 33 touchdowns versus seven interceptions. Pittsburgh’s running back tandem of Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris had a very good year in 2023. However, attempting to duplicate Henry’s threat to defenses in his prime four years ago may be a tenuous position at best for the Steelers.
Dunlap continued.
“He falls right into place. He falls into lockstep with the Pittsburgh Steelers mold,” Dunlap concludes. “We cried, and we clamored, and we wanted a shake-up, a big-time shake-up. It just wasn’t going to happen. The guy who went 7-10 for three years fits that mold perfectly because they think as opposed to blowing this up and getting another quarterback. That’s the way the Pittsburgh Steelers think. They think internally they are just a tinker here and a tinker there away from being a very good football outfit.”
No matter how bad Steeler Nation wants it, the 2024 NFL is a different ball game. The running game is still important, but teams must pass to set up the run. Physicality is being legislated out of the game. Defenses are not defined by their ability to stuff the run, but by how many points the offense can score to prevent the opposing team from doing it. Smith’s ball-control offense at its best blew a 10-point lead to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.
Steelers President Sick And Tired Of Lack Of Playoff Success
Art Rooney II told the press on Monday that he was growing frustrated with the lack of playoff success. Pittsburgh has lost five consecutive playoff games since the 2016 AFC Championship game. Something has to change. Rooney wanted to return a run-heavy offense before the 2021 draft that saw them select Harris in the first round. Three seasons later, he has three 1,000-yard seasons, and the Steelers have lost two playoff games by double digits.
