With playoffs approaching, Arthur Smith focused on beating Ravens, not another head coaching job

Arthur Smith’s chance to interview for another NFL head coaching opportunity can wait until next week when he’s permitted to discuss job openings.

The New York Jets and Chicago Bears requested permission to interview the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator. Per NFL rules, any interview cannot happen until following the wild-card round. And the 42-year-old Smith is happy for that stipulation because he’s focused on helping the Steelers snap a four-game losing streak heading into their playoff matchup Saturday night at Baltimore.

“You don’t know how many opportunities you’ll get to go to the playoffs, a chance to go win it all,” Smith said Wednesday. “You can’t cheat the game. You owe it to the players. You owe it to the organization. I think having done it before, it’s a lot easier to push it away.”

The previous time Smith interviewed for a head coaching job, he was hired by the Atlanta Falcons. He spent the 2021-23 seasons in Atlanta but was dismissed after the Falcons finished with a 7-10 record and missed the playoffs in each season.

Now, in his first year with the Steelers, he’s getting his first taste of coaching in the postseason since he was the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator. The Titans made the playoffs in each of his two seasons calling the plays, which made him an attractive candidate in Atlanta.

“The first time as much as you want to compartmentalize it, it’s all around you,” Smith said about the interview process. “There is a completely different feel. I’ll get to that at the appropriate time, but I can’t cheat the game and cheat the players and this organization. Our focus has to be on Baltimore.”

While this is the Steelers’ first playoff meeting with the Ravens since 2014, Smith has more recent experience facing them in the postseason. The Titans defeated the Ravens in the 2019 divisional round to reach the AFC championship game, but they lost in the wild-card round to Baltimore the following season. Smith departed for Atlanta shortly thereafter.

“It can become a distraction if you let it,” Smith said.

That is the last thing the Steelers need as they try to snap their first season-ending four-game losing streak since 1999. The Steelers have gotten off to tortoise-like slow starts, getting outscored a combined 40-3 in the first quarter of those losses.

The Steelers also didn’t score more than 17 points in any of those four games, dropping their season average to 22.4 points, which ranked No. 16 in the league.

“At times in the middle of the year, I thought we were playing really good offense,” Smith said. “We hit a rut and there have been different issues, however you slice it. Part of that problem is solving that, understanding you need to change some things up, don’t do the same logic that got you into that rut.”

In Smith’s first season with the Steelers, the offense averaged 4.5 points and 15 yards more per game than in 2023 under Matt Canada and the Eddie Faulkner/Mike Sullivan tandem. The Steelers improved two spots to No. 23 in yards per game and jumped 11 places in points. The Steelers also improved from No. 24 in time of possession last season to No. 9.

“We’re installing something every day,” running back Jaylen Warren said. “I’d rather deal with complex than the simplicity of things because it makes it complex for the other side.”

Still, the Steelers matched their wins total from last season and enter the playoffs as a wild-card team for the second year in a row after their closing stretch ruined a chance to win the AFC North and get a home playoff game.

“Let’s burn the boats because you’ve got to win to stay in,” Smith said. “We’ll use everything in our disposal assuming it’s the appropriate thing to do.”

Appropriate being the key word.

“I don’t think I’m going to put the wishbone in and open the game with seven double-reverse passes,” Smith said. “We’re not going to do anything that stupid. Some things that were working for us well early haven’t trended that way (lately). I’m not going to die on that hill.”

The incremental improvement of the offense might not have been enough for fans, but it caught the attention of the Jets and Bears, franchises that finished the season with interim coaches.

Those teams, plus any others interested in talking with Smith, can interview with him no sooner than three days after the Steelers’ wild-card game Saturday night. Any interview must take place before the divisional round is completed.

“That’s a good thing for the league trying to slow it down,” Smith said. “You can’t fault somebody for wanting a job, but that attention doesn’t need to be on me, and my concern doesn’t have to be on that. My concern needs to be on this job. That’s all that matters.”