Based on answers given at his year-end press conference Tuesday, Mike Tomlin is prepared to have one new coordinator on his Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff in 2022.

Tomlin admitted that defensive coordinator Keith Butler is mulling retirement. He also indicated that Matt Canada will return for a second season as offensive coordinator despite the Steelers inability to score an offensive touchdown in the first half of seven of the final eight games, including the 42-21 wild-card playoff loss at Kansas City.

“I’m optimistic about Matt and what he’s capable of doing,” Tomlin said.

In Canada’s first season, the Steelers averaged 20.2 points, which ranked No. 21. It was nearly six points fewer than what the Steelers averaged in Randy Fichtner’s last season in 2020. This year, the Steelers had four new starters, including two rookies, on the offensive line and rookies at running back and tight end. They also had a 39-year-old quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger who is retiring.

“I acknowledge we took a step back,” Tomlin said. “There are some obvious tangible reasons why that occurred. I’m not going to seek comfort in that. We’ve got to be better. We intend to be. That is going to require a lot of planning and work for coaches and players.”

Butler, 65, concluded his seventh season as defensive coordinator. The Steelers defense dropped from third in 2020 to No. 24 this year.

“Butts has had conversations about this potentially being his last year,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin and Butler haven’t made a determination on Butler’s future because they both have been dealing with exit interviews.

The defense’s regression was largely attributed to an inability to stop the run. The Steelers had the worst run defense in the league, allowing an average of 146.1 yards per game. The Steelers didn’t have defensive end Stephon Tuitt for the entire season and nose tackle Tyson Alualu was lost to a season-ending injury in the second game.

“Defensively, we didn’t play as well as we’d like,” Tomlin said. “We have to get better in that area. You can talk about player availability or lack thereof. You can seek comfort. I don’t. We don’t. All we have is what’s on tape and our record. We need to be better. I’m not comfortable with what we did against the run. I don’t think any of us are. That needs to improve. It will improve. We’ll plot a course to do so.”

As for other potential changes to his coaching staff, Tomlin said, “I don’t know that I’m anticipating any, but I don’t know that I’m going to be surprised by any.”

Although Roethlisberger hasn’t officially announced his retirement, Tomlin said the Steelers are preparing as if that will be the case. Mason Rudolph has a year left on his contract, and the Steelers signed Dwayne Haskins a year ago with the intent of giving him an opportunity to compete in 2022.

“Dwayne and Mason have had their moments,” Tomlin said. “They’ll have to prove that, and not only in the team development process, but through playing itself. They are guys that I would not characterize as every-day starters. They’ll be given an opportunity to establish themselves. There is going to be competition. There always is. They will write that story.”

Tomlin said the Steelers will explore adding another quarterback via the draft or free agency. Those discussions will continue with general manager Kevin Colbert, who has begun prepping Tomlin on prospects who will attend the upcoming Senior Bowl.

“I enjoy working with Kevin this time of the year because we speak plain English,” Tomlin said. “We have to improve our football team, and there are two ways to do it. You do it through free agency, and you do it through the draft.”

Colbert’s contract expires after the draft, and he is reportedly set to retire rather than continue in the role he has held under various titles since he joined the Steelers in 2000.

“He and I have had discussions, but I’ll leave it to Kevin to address any issues regarding him and his future,” Tomlin said. “Our plan is to proceed in the short term like we always do.”

Here is some of what Tomlin had to say:

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