This is it. There are no more excuses for Kenny Pickett.

His biggest hurdle to success in the NFL, offensive coordinator Matt Canada, is gone. Pittsburgh fired him on Tuesday to the jubilation of Steelers fans worldwide.

In his place, the Steelers are employing a tag team strategy at the position; Running Backs Coach Eddie Faulker gets the title, and works with the team throughout the week, but Quarterbacks Coach Mike Sullivan will be the one calling the plays on gamedays.

Either way, this should be the last chance for Kenny Pickett. The 20th overall pick last year by the Steelers will me making his 23rd NFL start when he takes the field on Sunday in Cincinnati against the Bengals.

On the other end of the field, the Bengals will be starting backup quarterback Jake Browning, who is in for Joe Burrow after he was ruled out for the remainder of the season.

Of course, Pickett has already been bested by a rookie backup quarterback once on this Ohio road trip. Last week, he was outplayed by Cleveland’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who led the Browns to a 13-10 win.

However, last Sunday was a Matt Canada special in terms of play-calling, and Steelers fans are hopeful they can see a new and improved offense moving forward.

And now, in his first game without Canada, Pickett has a chance to do the funniest thing ever.

Can you imagine if Pickett balls out with a 300+ yard performance and multiple touchdowns.

Pickett has not thrown for more than 300+ yards in any game since his first NFL start, which came in Week 5 last season in Buffalo against the Bills. Despite that being, statistically, Pickett’s best passing effort, that game ended in a historically bad 38-3 loss.

Since then, the highest yards Pickett has thrown for is 265 yards (2022, Week 11), and the highest he has thrown in a Steelers win is 244 (2023, Week 3).

He has a single game with 2+ touchdown passes in his career (2023, Week 3), which is historically bad for Pickett. Even quarterbacks like Tommy DeVito in New York has more than that.

After the Cleveland loss, Pickett suffered another drop in support, and even some of his most staunch supporters finally decided to jump ship. Before the Steelers fired Canada, it seemed more likely that Pickett would be benched before a change at coordinator.

Now, it seems as though Pickett has been extended some extra time to show something we have not yet seen from him yet.

So how funny would it be if Pickett played lights out starting on Sunday? After losing basically any remaining support in this city, this would be the time that he magically finds a way and turns it all around, right?

Not only would it be funny, but it would also be a miracle. The fourth quarter comebacks are great, but we have yet to see a complete, 60 minute game from him yet this season.

With Canada now gone, this is it for Pickett. His shield that was Canada is now gone, and he will have from now until the end of the season to prove that he can be the guy for the Steelers moving forward.

But no start in the post-Canada era will be more important than the first. Fairly or not, fans will be expecting a better team on offense than what have watched since 2021.

And if the offense comes out flat once again on Sunday, we’re all going to be right where we were earlier this week.

This is Kenny’s chance, his real chance. Let’s hope he can take advantage of it.

(Featured photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images)