Why did Dick LeBeau leave the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Pittsburgh Steelers fans were shocked over the weekend when they learned that defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau resigned from the team. At 77 years of age and expressing no interest of leaving in recent past, it’s clear that the organization isn’t on the same page.

It’s one thing if LeBeau decided to call it a career, but he emphasized in an interview with the Urbana Daily Citizen that he wasn’t retiring — he was moving on from the Steelers.

"“I’m resigning this position, not retiring,” LeBeau, 77, said in an interview with the Daily Citizen, which was first to report the story. “I had a great run in Pittsburgh. I’m grateful for all the things that have happened to me and thankful for all the support I had in Pittsburgh.”"

Perhaps criticism over how the defense has played this year ultimately led to LeBeau resigning. There were plenty of injury problems on the defense, but the Steelers uncharacteristically ranked poorly — especially on pass defense.

Opponents completed 64.4 percent of their passes against the Steelers. The defense ranked 25th nationally in opponent passing yards per game (253.1), 29th nationally in opponent yards per pass attempt (7.5), and 28th nationally in opponent yards per completion (11.7).

Since there’s a crutch of player injuries to fall on, and the Steelers have historically had a reliable defense under LeBeau, it would be simple to move past this season. Pittsburgh would hope to assemble their defense with their reliable defensive stars for another go and patch up these issues. Instead, now that LeBeau has left, it’d be a surprise if players like James Harrison and Troy Polamalu made a return.

A more likely scenario was LeBeau was forced out. The Steelers could have decided it was best to move on. Instead of keeping somebody like linebackers coach Keith Butler in limbo, they didn’t want to be stuck in a position to scurry around to find somebody down the road. It’s expected that Butler will be the successor as the defensive coordinator.

Another brutal piece of evidence is when LeBeau’s future in Pittsburgh was in doubt back in 2011. There was speculation that he would leave the Steelers after their eventual successful run in winning Super Bowl XLVIII. His quote right at the top of an NFL.com article is damning.

"Dick LeBeau denied Wednesday that he will leave the Pittsburgh Steelers after the season, telling NFL Network, “With this defense, with this group of men, they’ll have to run me out of here.”"

Questions were already going to surround the defense throughout this offseason. Now there’s wonder if the Steelers’ very successful run since LeBeau rejoined the team in 2004 is over after his departure.

Next: Steve Smith Sr. was major reason for 2014 Ravens success