The Steelers have officially hired Arthur Smith as their next offensive coordinator.
Where the organization is at right now, the hire is the most important of Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s career.
Out of all the coordinators that Tomlin has hired over his over 17 years, this is his first one without security blanket Ben Roethlisberger.
The Steelers wasted a season. Sure, they made it to the playoffs, but they still don’t know what they have in Kenny Pickett.
In the past, Roethlisberger had the talent to drag the Steelers into the playoffs and when they had Antonio Brown and LeVeon Bell, win a playoff game or two.
While they have a talented running back tandem in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, which is what Smith excels at, there is a big question mark at quarterback.
Running the ball well will win you games in the regular season, but if the Steelers want to win a playoff game for the first time in over seven years, they’ll need to have a successful passing game.
Tomlin’s last two offensive coordinators have been a disaster. Randy Fichtner.
His plays would be called out by the other team’s defense leading to Roethlisberger having to take over and bail the Steelers out.
That was followed by Matt Canada, who was heavily criticized by local and national media and for good reason, at times they couldn’t seem to get out of their own way.
Tomlin doesn’t have Big Ben to change the plays if Smith’s offensive play calling goes south, he doesn’t have Canada to blame.
Owner Art Rooney II said the hiring of Smith is 100 percent on Tomlin
“Well, I mean number one, to be clear, head coaches, hire their coordinators and I think be a mistake for me to try to a screw up the lines of authority, let's say in terms of how things are supposed to work,” Rooney said a day before the news of Smith’s hire broke.
Tomlin has put it all on Arthur Smith. If it doesn’t work, he won’t be around to hire the next OC.