The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a rut unmatched by any other franchise in the NFL when it comes to their offense. It has been a long time since they had a 400-yard game or scored 30 points and fans are tired of the ineptitude.

There has been clamoring to move on from offensive coordinator Matt Canada for a while now. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has consistently said that no changes are coming on that side of the ball, but something will have to give eventually.

While fans always want changes to be made, that is only one side of the coin. If you are going to fire a coach, you need someone to replace him. While most people around the Steelers would probably take anyone at this point, it is fair to wonder who would take over the play-calling for the team.

Things are certainly at a low point, but if a change hasn’t been made yet, it is hard to envision a change being made during the season. The bye week, which the Steelers are currently on, would have been the ideal time so everyone can get adjusted to new roles.

With no change coming, this offseason could be when a move is made. If that is the case, who might Tomlin target to become his new offensive coordinator? Steelers reporter Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggested Tomlin hire another person he is friendly with; Jon Gruden.

“Way too early to speculate. But a good one would be a [Mike] Tomlin friend — Jon Gruden,” Dulac said.

That would certainly be a splashy hire for Pittsburgh. Tomlin worked on Gruden’s staff with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before taking over as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings in 2006. He lasted one season there before becoming the Steelers’ head coach and the rest is history.

There would certainly be some hesitations from people to bring in Gruden, who is currently suing the league and commissioner Roger Goodell. But, the Steelers did give Brian Flores a chance when he had a lawsuit against the league, so they may be comfortable bringing Gruden in as well, who is in a consultant role with the New Orleans Saints.

But, on the field, it would be fair to question how much he would help the Steelers turn things around. In his most recent stint with the Las Vegas Raiders as head coach, Gruden had only one top-10 offense. 

He did oversee some good units early in his coaching career as offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles and head coach of the Raiders and Buccaneers, but that came nearly 30 years ago and the game has changed a lot since then. Hiring Gruden would certainly be a splashy move for Pittsburgh but it can be argued whether it is the right one or not.