If you listen closely, you can probably hear someone screaming “fire Matt Canada” in Pittsburgh right now. The fanbase and much of the media are calling for the offensive coordinator to be fired after a horrible start to the season.
The Steelers currently sit on their bye week and seemingly are in the perfect position to fire Canada, should the team do it. But as with every firing, there has to be a replacement. In the Steelers case, the most likely replacement would be quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan at least in the interim.
Who is Mike Sullivan?
Sullivan has been the Steelers quarterbacks coach for two seasons. He replaced Canada when Canada was promoted to OC to replace Randy Fichtner. Fichtner was the quarterbacks coach before Canada. I’m sending a pattern here.
Going back to 2010, Sullivan has been the quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator for a variety of teams with stints as OC with the New York Giants in 2016 and 2017 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012-2013.
Sullivan’s offense in New York never finished better than 25th in points and 21st in yards. During his time with Tampa things were better. in 2012, Sullivan’s offense, led by quarterback Josh Freeman was 13th in scoring and 9th in yards. The Bucs had a power run game led by Doug Martin and his 1,454 rushing yards.
Sullivan was an offensive assistant, wide receivers coach in 2007 and quarterbacks coach in 2011 when the Giants won two Super Bowls.
Is this the guy you want coaching the offense the rest of the season? Let us know in the comments below.
