Every season, there is a constant influx and outflow of personnel with every NFL franchise. Teams are looking to improve in any way possible and individuals are looking for a better opportunity and fit to maximize their production. Sometimes teams get it right and other times they get it wrong.

When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 offseason, they were very active in free agency and had a draft which had many fans were happy with the selections they were able to make. But there were two key losses that the Steelers suffered this offseason that they simply failed to address in an adequate way.

What are these two losses? I will answer them with a short riddle…

What do Matt Canada, Brian Flores, and John Mitchell have in common?

They are no longer on the Steelers 2023 coaching staff and were not replaced.

When it comes to Matt Canada, he is not the focus here at all. Technically he was replaced in title when the Steeler simply moved around responsibilities with others coaches currently on the staff.

When it comes to Brian Flores and John Mitchell, they left the Steelers and the void of their leadership was not addressed.

To first look at Brian Flores, he was hired by the Steelers for the 2022 season as a senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach. Flores came to the Steelers after being head coach of Miami Dolphins as one of the only places that were willing to take a chance on him as he had a pending lawsuit with the NFL. Knowing that the Steelers were just a stop along the way before Flores had another opportunity in the NFL, he moved on to become the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator for 2023.

But the Steelers failed to do was replace Flores on the coaching staff. While there could be an argument made that the Steelers did add another coach to the defense, it was nowhere close to what the Steelers had in Flores. Although the Steelers added Gerald Alexander as an assistant defensive backs coach to their list of coaches for 2023, even his bio on Steelers.com says that this is his second season with the Steelers as he held the same position last year despite not being listed as doing so. Otherwise, the only other defensive coach the Steelers added was defensive quality control coach Jason Brooks who came over from the Baltimore Ravens who served as a football analyst in 2022 and a in assistant defensive line/quality control coach in 2021. While I’m not downplaying the value of Brooks, this was not someone who was expected to be asked to fill the role Flores had with the defense.

With every other coach on either offense or defense being one who replaced someone from the previous year, there was no addition to the coaching staff to address the loss of assistant head coach John Mitchell. Coaching with the Steelers since 1993, Mitchell was the defensive line coach for many years until keeping only the title of the assistant head coach the last several seasons. As someone who was very respected in the locker room, the Steelers apparently didn’t even consider hiring another assistant head coach to Mike Tomlin for this season.

With the Steelers already having a very small coaching staff, having losses of this caliber with no replacements is a bit head-scratching. With the Steelers coming off historic losses the last two games as the only team above .500 to ever drop back-to-back games to teams who were eight games below .500, one has to think the Steelers even smaller coaching staff this season would benefit from additional quality leadership.

Whether the decision not to adequately replace these two phenomenal coaches was that of Mike Tomlin, Art Rooney II, or a combination of things is more speculation than conclusion from adequate information. Regardless, the Steelers rough stretch to start December could have one of the many causes of such things be from losing strong coaching leadership in the locker room that was not replaced.

Coaches like the great John Mitchell and Brian Flores aren’t easy to find. These two men could simply be irreplaceable at this time. But the fact the Steelers didn’t even add enough coaches to cover their departure seems foolish, especially with their recent struggles.