Both the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and the National Football Post have Bruce Arians returning as Steelers' OC next season:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10006/1026257-100.stm

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Source-Arians-can-keep-his-job-if-he-would-like.html

It was also announced that there is no Santa Claus, the recession will last another year, global warming will doom us all, beer and desserts have been outlawed, and the NFL has decided that the Steelers will play all home games overseas, and all women in the U.S. will be wearing burkas starting Feb. 1.

Some random thoughts on what should be done at this point:

Troy: shut him down.  No reason to keep him on the active roster or risk playing him.  Get well my friend, and return next year 100% to resume your role as the most indispensable player on our (or any) defense.

Arians: no need to state the obvious (after the season is over).

Tomlin: stop talking.  Under promise, over deliver.

Secondary: activate K. Lewis, give Burnett a starting role.  Sit all the current starters as much as situations allow. Concentrate on developing or evaluating next year's potential starters.

Decide NOW what we're going to do with FWP.  If he's not going to be re-signed, take him off the active roster and bring a RB up from the Practice Squad. As it is now, he takes carries away from Mendy, slowing his development.  

Special teams: here's an idea, let's try blocking punts!  Every time one of our next three opponents is punting from inside their 20, we go all out to block the punt.  That way, we might actually master how its done for next year. How about some creativity on special teams?  A reverse on a kick-off to Mike Wallace perhaps?

Sweed: start him for at least a half the next 3 games.  May as well find out now.

Keyaron Fox: let him play a whole half for Farrior just to see how he does.  Does he have what it takes to be the "man with the microphone helmet?"  Does Timmons?

Relish the spoiler role: it's all we have left.  Misery loves company, let's bring the Ratbirds down with us.

Work on an offensive scheme designed to defeat tight man coverage. We're going to keep seeing it until we defeat it. Script plays if you have to Tomlin.  BA has shown his limitations.  Time to take control.

Dennis Dixon: give him a half dozen plays per game.  I know the Wildcat is a gimmick, but with the right guy (see Cribbs, Josh) it gives you another weapon, it gives the defense something to think about other than the stats they are racking up sacking BB.

Santonio: after a slow start, you've been money.  Let's get this sucker in the Pro Bowl so we have something to live for after the RS.

Kiesel and Woodley: you guys have been playing your guts out during the losing streak.  Thanks, we appreciate it.

Other ideas?

I don't want to be accused at blaming a loss on the officials, so let's set aside the outcome of the game.  I re-watched most of the game this morning (with lots of fast-forwarding) and 3 of the bad calls I saw jumped out at me, in part because they seemed to raise more general questions about NFL officiating.

First, there was Coles' reception on the sideline where he wasn't even close to getting a second foot in bounds. Unless the official was screened, a call like that suggests a philosophy to give the receiver a huge benefit of the doubt on sideline catches, in contradiction to the philosophy that took a touchdown away from Hines earlier this year, when he dropped a ball he clearly controlled in the end zone, after rolling over out of bounds.

Second, there was Keyaron Fox being tackled from behind on the kick-off return for a touchdown.  This was so obvious that it's pretty amazing that it was missed.  Yet, the refs subsequently acted like they KNEW it was missed. Just about every later kick return in the game resulted in a ticky-tack penalty of some kind, as if they were trying to make up for a blown call. Should we just legalize blocking in the back during a return, given how often and inconsistently it's called?

Last, there was Santonio's catch for a first down that was erased after a replay review.  The call on the field looked like a generous spot, giving us the ball where it first touched Santonio's hands.  After the replay, the refs moved the ball back TWO YARDS.  How the hell could they miss a call by that much?  The only way the two yards less decision makes sense is if the rule defines a receiver's forward progress as where he gains control of the ball and his bodily momentum.  Yet, if that interpretation is correct, there is no way Santonio's catch at the goal line in Baltimore last year was a touchdown.  We should have had that ball on the 2 yard line. What gives?

Jim Trotter has an article at SI.com about expanding the regular season to 17 or 18 games, and eliminating some preseason games.  Some suspicious characters, Daniel Snyder (Redskins) and Mike Brown (Bengals) among them, have come out in support of more regular season games.  Dan Rooney is quoted as saying he's willing to look at 17 games, but thinks 18 games is out of the question.  Brown, not surprisingly, given his track record as a NFL executive, supports 18 games with no reservations.  Here on some thoughts on the likely results if the regular season is expanded.  (Trotter has some good comments from Mike Tomlin in his article, where Tomlin notes the specific drawbacks to fewer preseason games.)

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