Gut Check Time (or Some Such Silliness)

Okay, folks, I can take a hint -- new thread. You know, when I quit my regular 9-to-5, I was under the impression I would have all this time to write. The sixth-month-old disagrees. Whatever, it is what it is. And in the span of two weeks, things could go from looking particularly rosy ("undefeated season!") to dire ("we're 3-2!?!").

At the beginning of the week, I wasn't so much worried about the Cards loss, but after looking at Seattle's stats through four weeks, I'm a little more concerned about Sunday. At full strength, I'd be a lot more comfortable, but every team goes through injuries, and for the Steelers, that time is now. I get that, but potentially losing Hampburglar and Polamalu is about the worst thing that could happen.

Good news, though: Santonio Holmes is kicking ass, so there's that.

Steelers' Season Is Doomed

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. A new post, just hours after a game thread! Okay, the Steelers lost to the Cards in Arizona. And if we're being honest, it was the Whisenhunt Bowl. This team has been shitty ... well, forever. They have a new coach, a re-energized offense, and a pretty damn good defense.

All that, and then throw in the Steelers, the team that passed on Whisenhunt and and strung Russ Grimm along, and there you have it. Still, despite all of that, this loss didn't rank in the top 50 of Steelers losses since 2000. Yeah, there were mistakes -- Arians had his head up his ass on the 1st and goal that ended in an Adrian Wilson interception, and the offensive line had trouble blocking eight guys to make room for Willie Parker (partial sarcasm), and the defense gave up too many plays to Kurt Freakin' Warner, but like I mentioned in the comments, it wasn't like the '02 Texans game, any game from '03, or the two Ravens' games from last season.

Think about it this way: who do you think feels worse tonight about the rest of the season: the Ravens, who got smoked in Cleveland, or the Steelers, who lost a punch-in-the-mouth fest to a team playing in their Super Bowl in their stadium.

I'm not trying to make excuses -- the Steelers certainly could've won -- but it's not the end of the world. To read the internets, Steelers' fans watched this game from the ledge, and jumped when Ben threw his game-ending pick. People, calm down. Jeebus. Pittsburgh's 3-1, they've smoked three opponents (and as I pointed out last week, kicking a lesser teams' ass is a much better indicator of playoff success than close losses), and they've got a big game against the Seahawks next week.

I'm sure Tomlin will use this as an opportunity to see how his team responds, and I expect they'll do just that. If not, well, then, I'll be right there on the ledge with you in seven days.