Way back on September 14th, Jerome Bettis made a comment that ruffled a lot of feathers, and seemed pretty stupid at the time... I dismissed it as Jerome trying to show he can be objective by taking a shot at his former team. (And as much as I hate that -- including what Cowher did the year he started broadcasting -- watching Tedy "I'm really still a Patriot" Bruschi trying to pass himself off as an unbiased sportscaster shows why it is neccessary)

However... Jerome wasn't just taking a shot. He was being a prophet that we ignored at our own peril.

Turns out, he was completely right...

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The Pittsburgh Steelers are no longer Champions. Not after two pathetic efforts in two must win games. No one can argue that these Pittsburgh Steelers have the right to call themselves Champions, in any true sense of the word.

This does not mean that they might not end up as winners come February...

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Amongst the horrible after-effects of watching the Steelers lose to one of the worst teams in the NFL, I had at least one chuckle.

It happened tonight on House. Finally

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This is not a post exhorting that we bring back Redman. 

And, Logan is a great story. Seems like a god kid. But we need to face facts: He is taking up a roster spot to return kickoffs, and he just isn't that good. Not that he isn't good returning kickoffs -- he is an upgrade (albeit a slight one) from last year. He just isn't good enough to warrant a full roster spot. 

It's like keeping a guy on the Penguins just because he can score in a shootout. (They had a guy like that, and they wisely traded him...)

Yeah, Logan also is on the kick coverage team -- and how is that working out? He left his lane in the kick off return on Sunday. He wasn't alone in that... but the point is he is no Special teams ace.

Meanwhile, one thing that has killed the Steelers has been their kickoff return coverage.

We would be better off having two kickers: Jeff Reed for accuracy, and  another guy whose only job would be to kick the ball out of the end zone. Imagine what the Steelers would look like if every kickoff meant the other team had to start on the 20?

If I am going to devote a full roster spot to one Special Teams player... let him be a kicker with a super leg. I don't care if he can kick an extra point or a field goal. I'll keep Skippy for that. But give me a guy who can boom it out of the end zone on kickoffs. They are out there...

I'm not burning my Terrible Towel, nor am I buying a Peyton Manning jersey so I can feel like a winner... but I am very concerned.

I was worried, honestly, after we lost to Cincy the first time around. A couple of weeks ago, I was saying that the Steelers had to win the 4 game stretch, and I was worried that they couldn't do it: Vikings, Broncos, Bengals, and Chiefs...

I said at the time that if we failed to win the next four that we would probably not repeat as champions. I was called crazy (and a bunch of other things...) After we beat the Vikings with our Defense, and dominated the Broncos with a combination of defense and running game, I was feeling a lot better about things... But after this past Sunday, the future seems a lot more black and a lot less gold...

When the game was over, and my remote had settled on the floor after being hurled at the TV in disgust (and, oh by the way, I'm pretty sure it traveled further than Ben's last lame pass...) my first thought was: There goes the Super Bowl.

I hope I am wrong (and I will discuss some faint glimmer of hopes...) but things look bad, Steelers fans...

With the Bengals remaining games and the Steelers remaining games, I think we will be very unlucky to end the season with the same record... and since they hold the tie-breaker, that gives them the division.

Can we expect a Steelers team, who is already beat up, with a #43 whose knee cannot seem to shake the Madden Curse, to make an almost impossible run through the playoffs.

Even should we beat Cincy, I am not liking our chances of going on the road all of the way to the Super Bowl. Yes, the 2005 team did it, but they were very lucky... they caught Indy by surprise, and the Broncos over-achieved until they crashed back to earth.

Let's say that the Bengals don't implode, and they win the division. OK... so, let us say that the Steelers finish strong and end up 11-5. So, how do the playoffs look?

It's fair to assume that Indy takes the South and New England takes The East. I believe the Broncos will hold on for the west, and Cincy will win the North. 

That leaves Pittsburgh fighting San Diego for the top wild card spot, and fortunately they hold the tie-breaker. So, the way things look right now, the final rankings will be (and this is only a guess.. but...)

1. Indy

2. Cincy

3. New England

4. Denver

5. Pittsburgh

6. San Diego

That means that Pittsburgh would play Denver in the wild card game... We beat them once, and we'd have to play there... but I still think Pittsburgh wins that. (If they fold and the Chargers win the west, we have to play the Chargers, but I still like our chances... the Charges fold in the December almost as badly as the Cowboys...)

Who knows what happens in the other games, but coming out of the Wild Card, we would have to go in to Cincinnati if the rankings break down the way things look now. I don't know if Marvin Lewis subscribes to the hocus pocus theory about beating a team three times in a season... but I am wondering why anyone would predict that Pittsburgh can suddenly do in the playoffs what they couldn't do all year...?

But even if we can somehow beat the pesky Bengals... for the Steelers, that is not enough. (I mean, the Bengals have already had a successful season -- the Steelers have to win the Super Bowl for that...) If the Steelers somehow beat the Bengals, now they have to go into Indy or Foxboro and win again... that is asking a lot. 

Frankly, I could easily see Pittsburgh not even making it to the AFC Championship game if it enters the playoffs as a Wild Card team...

So... what can change?

Pittsburgh's best bet is to hope on a Cincy Collapse. We've been waiting for it all season long. They are certainly capable of it. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't... Losing Cedric Benson is huge. Yes, they beat the Steelers without him, but they also didn't score a touchdown. If the Steelers don't give up six gift points, the game is tied in the 4th, and I believe the outcome is much different.

Other teams are going to see what Pittsburgh saw: They no longer need to fear the running game... that means the Defenses will adjust and start making Carson Palmer beat them -- and that could be a huge difference coming down the stretch. You get a sense that CIncy has a bubble of invincibility about them... but they are one prick away from having it burst ... could that prick's name be Larry Johnson?

Face it, the Bengals are not exactly scary -- they have won a lot of close games  And the Texans aren't that good, and they beat them. Take away the threat of a run, and this team is more than mortal.

Honestly, the Bengals could very well go out to Oakland and lose this week. As crazy as that sounds, this week's game is a bit of a trap game for the Bengals. Ask the Eagles. They also have three road games they could pretty easily lose: The Vikings, the Chargers and the Jets. The Vikings will be at home, and unless Brett Favre is falling apart (and he may be, who knows...) that will be a tough game for the Bengals to win. The Chargers will be fighting for their lives, and the Jets will probably be playing spoiler by year's end... but Rex Ryan is not the kind of guy to let his team finish early... he will want the spotlight of beating a playoff caliber team.

The Bengals will probably lose two more games. they could lose four. Pray they lose four...

The Steelers have to play Baltimore twice -- which is never easy, since they genuinely hate us, and will play hard against the Steelers just to try to knock them out of contention. But even if they split with Baltimore, they probably win the rest. MAYBE they lose against Green Bay, but since that game is at home, probably not. They play in Miami, but that team is looking like to will be vying for draft pick by week 17. The only two away games are against the Ravens, against the Browns and against Miami. None of those scare me except for the Ravens.

If Pittsburgh can manage to win out, or just lose one, I think they still win the division. If they lose two games, they better hope that Cincy self-destructs.

Because I don't think the 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers can win as a Wild Card team...

One thing I hate about playing the Monday night game is that we get the second-tier team to analyze the game results on the NFL network.

But, anyway, there was a great moment today from Smiling Charles Davis.

They showed the Troy Polomalu interception -- how he was 15 yards back, and started breaking before the ball was even thrown. Fran asked: "How did he know where the ball was going to be, Charles?"

"Orton told him with his eyes, Fran, he told him with his eyes..."

I am not sure if everyone had a chance to watch the Green Bay versus Minnesota game, but I was struck by two plays that happened as Green Bay was staging a comeback, that defined the difference between Green Bay and the Pittsburgh Steelers in a nutshell.

I don't have the game recorded, so I will have to go off of memory... this was after Green Bay scored two touchdownds to bring the game within reach. Momentum had donned Green and Gold, and things were looking up.

On the next defensive possession (Minn had the ball) a blitzing lineman gets around behind Brett, and closes in on his blind side as Brett starts to throw. It looks familiar -- EXCEPT -- this time, the rusher is a half a second slow. Instead of stripping the ball (as Woodley did)  Brett starts his throw. The ball pops up in the air and Green Bay watches as it falls in the middle of three defensemen. Incomplete pass. Vikings ball.

Later in the drive, a pass goes off the hands of a Vikings receiver and pops into the air... falling harmlessly between two Green Bay defenders. Incomplete pass. Vikings ball... the Vikings would later score, putting the game out of reach.

The week before, simlar plays happened... but the ball was stripped and returned for a touchdown in one instance, and it was intercepted and returned for a touchdown in the other.

A half a step... a dropped interception... inches separated the Packers last week from what the Steelers did the week before.

But, the great teams make those plays, and the pretty good teams don't.

Football may be a game of inches... but those inches separate also-rans from champions...  And the distance measured is the distance between good and great.

OK, everyone is happy to have the NFL back... me too.. but after the Monday games are in the books, I am feeling kind of deflated.

Yes... I was surprised to see KC put up a fight against Baltimore. I was hoping for a Raiders and/or Bills victory, but they hung in just enough to get your hopes up, and then reverted to  their losing ways...

Anyway... When the dust clears, and I look at every team that won, and every team that lost... was anyone surprised by any of it? Take the spread out of the picture... just wins and losses. 

Did any team's loss (or victory) surprise anyone? That was about as predictible a week as I have ever seen...

You can usually count on the idiot sportwriters to make stupid predictions and then back it up with wishful thinking.

I like that, because it let's the Pittsburgh Steelers -- incredibly -- fly under the radar.

Unfortunately, Peter Schrager of Fox News didn't buy the head fake.

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[Sarcasm] I am shocked... shocked I tell you to find that Peter King thinks the Patriots will win Super Bowl XLIV [/Sarcasm]

OK, maybe not. But is is shocking to find that Brett Favre isn't picked to make it as a Viking, I suppose...

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