Reason For Change

A graphic to show why the Steelers had to make the change from defensive HC to offensive HC:



Some other things of note:

• The offensive decline is decades in the making with more seasons falling out of the top half of the league.
• The defense has been a cornerstone of the team and typically one of the better ones, no surprise.
• Noll's defense was in a constant decline after its '70s heydays. Going from the top ranked defense to one of the worst Steelers defenses.
• Noll rebuilt the defense after the '70s in a short time but had a terrible draft in '91.
• Steelers had a good draft in '92 and Cowher returned the defense to top 10.
• Tomlin should have kept Haley as OC.

 

The NFL is geared toward offense.
A guy like Dick Butkus would spend all his career suspended.

 

That's one of my biggest gripes with the nfl these days. Along with the refs dictating games the neutering of great defensive play is a real downer. I love to watch great defensive play over shootouts but I'm a steeler fan and probably in the minority.

 

Offense sells tickets sadly. Defense still wins Championships but how to construct said defenses in an Era where it is heavily Offense is merely step one. Step two is finding the Coordinator to orchestrate that talent. Step three is having consistency.


As for the Steelers ability to adapt?! They did technically multiple times; the Killer Bs Era being their best iteration. Of course, that didn't end well at all. Now, AR II is pushing all his chips in the middle of the table for Double M. Whether or not that works is dependent on a number of factors.


Step One of course is nabbing that guy at QB.

 

I'm not sure that Step One is nabbing that guy at QB. It's certainly the most important and most difficult step. But I think Step One is building up the offensive line, in preparation for eventually finding that guy. Step two is putting the weapons in place. Because even a mediocre QB can have a VERY good season with a great O-Line and great weapons.