Season Over

If you can't beat the Oakland Raiders at home, you don't deserve to make the playoffs. You can't lose four straight games and expect to reach the postseason. No disrespect to the Pittsburgh native, but you can't give up three touchdowns passes by Bruce Gradkowski in the fourth quarter and win a football game.* It's clear that the Steelers miss Aaron Smith and especially Troy Polamalu. Over the past three weeks, the Steelers led late in the fourth quarter only to give up a scoring drives in the fourth quarter and overtime. I guess if there is any consolation to Sunday's loss, it is that we didn't have to wait until overtime to watch the Steelers lose.

So where do the Steelers go from here? I know people want to complain about offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, but the offense hasn't lost these games. The special teams has been, to be kind, below average, though again, it wasn't that unit's fault for the loss to Oakland. I guess we could say that the Steelers would have won had rookie DB Joe Burnett caught Gradkowski's pass late in the fourth; however, I think we would have the same concerns about the secondary. Well, except that we would be in a better mood, and a 7-5 Steelers team would have a chance at the playoffs while a 6-6 Steelers team with five conference loses does not.

So is it a Super Bowl hangover? Poor offensive red zone execution? Coaching? Defensive breakdowns? Personally, I still blame Jimmy Fallon.

Overall, I really can't be too upset. The Steelers are coming off of a Super Bowl Championship and are one of the greatest franchises in professional sports. Plus, things could be much worse; we could be Cleveland Browns fans!


* Based on this sentence, I think I am disrespecting Bruce Gradkowski.