Could the Steelers land Chris Shula and Nate Scheelhaase in a package deal?<\/p>\n
The Steelers have completed three in-person interviews, but they can\u2019t interview Chris Shula or Nate Scheelhaase yet. The two Rams assistant coaches are preparing for the NFC Championship Game, but can interview in person next week. Reports indicate at least one of them will do so, but we don\u2019t know who, if it\u2019s only one.<\/p>\n
Of the two Steelers head coach candidates, Shula is the senior, Scheelhaase having never held a coordinating position. He is Los Angeles\u2019 pass game coordinator, though he has experience as a college coordinator. With five openings remaining, there is a good chance he doesn\u2019t land one of the gigs.<\/p>\n
So, would Scheelhaase follow Shula to take a promotion to offensive coordinator if the Steelers or another team hired him? Believe it or not, the Rams under Sean McVay do actually have an offensive coordinator in Mike LeFleur.<\/p>\n
While Arthur Smith is as-yet unsigned, he certainly keeps taking interviews, both for head coach and offensive coordinator roles. I imagine the Steelers have given him some sense of what their head coach candidates are thinking regarding coordinator retention, and if either Shula or Scheelhaase is the pick, that would likely be bad news for him. Either one would almost undoubtedly want to implement a McVay\/Shanahan-style offense\u2014which is not Smith\u2019s offense at all.<\/p>\n
As of this writing, there are five head coach job openings available with the Steelers, Bills, Raiders, Cardinals, and Browns. Considering there are still names like Klint Kubiak, Brian Flores, Sean McDermott, Kliff Kingsbury, Vance Joseph, and others in addition to the names the Steelers have interviewed, it would be far from surprising if Scheelhaase doesn\u2019t get one of the jobs but Shula does. Shula has also interviewed with the Raiders and Cardinals, and the Bills could very well interview him, as well. He reportedly declined an interview with the Browns, which is just amusing. So for every open job that isn\u2019t objectively horrible, he already has or very well may have an iron in the fire. Buffalo cannot interview him until after the season is over, however, which puts them at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n
The Steelers are out of the playoffs, exiting in the first round yet again, a pattern going back to 2017. With seven consecutive postseason losses<\/a>, and none in nearly a decade, they are facing another long, long offseason. No doubt we will see many changes, but none will top Mike Tomlin\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n