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Adam Schefter, ESPN Senior Writer
Diontae Johnson‘s on-field frustration last Sunday in Cleveland continued after the game in the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ locker room, where he got into a heated argument with teammate Minkah Fitzpatrick before Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt broke up the altercation and delivered a message that the team needed to stick together, league sources told ESPN.
Order eventually was restored in Pittsburgh’s locker room, but the argument between two of the team’s star players left a mark going forward on the Steelers, who fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada two days later.
Pittsburgh’s on- and off-field performance in last Sunday’s 13-10 loss to Cleveland was a clear tipping point, leading the Steelers to make their first in-season coaching change since 1941. After another inept offensive performance and the outburst from Johnson, it became apparent that the Steelers needed to make a move.
Johnson, who had just two catches against the Browns, was visibly upset on the sideline during the game, engaging in an animated conversation with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
But the heated words didn’t stop there.
One source told ESPN that Johnson, the Steelers’ second-leading receiver, continued “chirping” at the Steelers’ coaches all the way into the locker room, where Fitzpatrick — a three-time first-team All Pro — began arguing with Johnson. The words between Johnson and Fitzpatrick became “heated,” in the words of another source, before Heyward and Watt intervened and prevented the situation from getting worse.
Heyward and Watt calmed everyone down before addressing the situation along with Tomlin. Sources around the team believe the Steelers have been able to move on, and the locker room incident did not carry over into the team’s preparation for Sunday’s game against the Bengals.
But the argument between Johnson and Fitzpatrick also is an example of the type of effect that the Steelers’ struggling offense had on the entire team, as tempers flared and emotions took over, even getting the better of some of Pittsburgh’s top players.
It all was part of the tipping point as to why Tomlin and the Steelers fired Canada on Tuesday. The last time the Steelers fired a head coach or coordinator midseason was in 1941, when the team’s half owner, Bert Bell, fired himself as the head coach after an 0-2 start, before first hiring Aldo Donelli, who went 0-5, and then Walt Kiesling, who finished up 1-2-1.
Moving forward for the remainder of the season, the new offensive coordinator will be running back coach Eddie Faulkner while Mike Sullivan will be the Steelers’ primary gameday play caller.
“You hate to see it,” Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett told reporters earlier this week. “You don’t want to see one of your coaches lose their job. We all got to be better.”
Faulkner, who has been on staff in Pittsburgh since 2019, said Thursday that the Steelers feel as if they let down Canada.
“I couldn’t say enough good about Matt Canada,” Faulkner said. “It’s a little bit bittersweet in that way because when you sit back and you see all that goes on, and all that’s being said about him and the offense, we all — and I’m speaking for the offense when I say this to staff — we all felt that we’re all part of that. Nobody’s absolving themselves from anything that’s happened in that regard. We feel like we let him down.”
The Steelers’ offense has struggled through Canada’s tenure as offensive coordinator, never eclipsing 400 yards of offense in his 45-game career, including playoffs. The Steelers were the only team in that stretch to not reach 400 yards, while 31 other teams hit that benchmark at least four times each.
Pittsburgh is 6-4 this season but has a negative point differential (-29) and has been outgained in every game this season. The Steelers rank 28th in points per game (16.6), 28th in offensive yards per game (280.1) and 30th in passing yards per game (170) this season.
Tomlin said he selected Faulkner to lead the offense because of his “steady voice and demeanor” and “natural” communication in conducting the running backs room.
Faulker said there wouldn’t necessarily be any significant tactical shift to Pittsburgh’s offense but emphasized he is “going to empower the guys around us” and “work real hard to be in lockstep” with Sullivan.
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor contributed to this report.