It's time to face the facts, Steelers fans. The team just isn't that good.
Really.
They stink.
Bad.
There's no other conclusion to draw after Thursday's 13-6 loss to the Browns.
It looked that way after the Steelers' loss to the Chiefs. It was easy to chalk it up one game up as an aberration. It wasn't the time to panic.
Sure enough, the Steelers dropped a heartbreaker on Sunday to the Raiders. They made Oakland's season with a defensive effort in the fourth quarter that was as bad as the Pitt Panthers' collapse against Cincinnati.
In the Panthers' defense, they were at least up against an undefeated team.
If the Steelers managed to hit a low with the Oakland loss, they topped themselves Thursday.
Against a team that ranks 32nd in rushing defense, the running back Rashard Mendenhall managed 16 carries for 53 yards.
Against a team that widely is regarded as one of the worst in football (the Chiefs and Raiders are included in that esteemed group), the Steelers managed just six points.
Thursday's loss wasn't just a trend. It's an admission that the Steelers are not good.
There's plenty of blame, from injuries to poor play, but the fact is, the Steelers should have won against the Triple Crown of terrible teams. To go 0-3 puts you in a class that's below any of them.
I'm amazed at the coaches' decision to throw the football as much as they did Thursday night – or at least attempt to – in driving winds against a team that cannot stop the run.
I'm stunned at the poor clock management at the end of the game. A professional football team should be able to run two plays after the two-minute warning without calling a time out. Had the Steelers saved a time out, they would have had more time for one last drive against the Browns. Although they probably wouldn't have done much with it.
And I'm speechless at the defense's ability to stop Josh Cribbs and the Wildcat formation. Brady Quinn was awful at quarterback and Cribbs was the only player doing anything. Yet the Steelers couldn't stop them.
I don't buy into an argument of the Steelers suffering a Super Bowl hangover this season. There was no talk of a hangover when they were 6-2.
Now, the excuses are piling up after five straight losses.
All we know for sure is this team's not going to the postseason and NFL draft talk will start awfully early around here.
That's quite a departure from last season.
Now that's a hangover for fans, something that needs to be done to forget this season gone awfully wrong.
Really.
They stink.
Bad.
There's no other conclusion to draw after Thursday's 13-6 loss to the Browns.
It looked that way after the Steelers' loss to the Chiefs. It was easy to chalk it up one game up as an aberration. It wasn't the time to panic.
Sure enough, the Steelers dropped a heartbreaker on Sunday to the Raiders. They made Oakland's season with a defensive effort in the fourth quarter that was as bad as the Pitt Panthers' collapse against Cincinnati.
In the Panthers' defense, they were at least up against an undefeated team.
If the Steelers managed to hit a low with the Oakland loss, they topped themselves Thursday.
Against a team that ranks 32nd in rushing defense, the running back Rashard Mendenhall managed 16 carries for 53 yards.
Against a team that widely is regarded as one of the worst in football (the Chiefs and Raiders are included in that esteemed group), the Steelers managed just six points.
Thursday's loss wasn't just a trend. It's an admission that the Steelers are not good.
There's plenty of blame, from injuries to poor play, but the fact is, the Steelers should have won against the Triple Crown of terrible teams. To go 0-3 puts you in a class that's below any of them.
I'm amazed at the coaches' decision to throw the football as much as they did Thursday night – or at least attempt to – in driving winds against a team that cannot stop the run.
I'm stunned at the poor clock management at the end of the game. A professional football team should be able to run two plays after the two-minute warning without calling a time out. Had the Steelers saved a time out, they would have had more time for one last drive against the Browns. Although they probably wouldn't have done much with it.
And I'm speechless at the defense's ability to stop Josh Cribbs and the Wildcat formation. Brady Quinn was awful at quarterback and Cribbs was the only player doing anything. Yet the Steelers couldn't stop them.
I don't buy into an argument of the Steelers suffering a Super Bowl hangover this season. There was no talk of a hangover when they were 6-2.
Now, the excuses are piling up after five straight losses.
All we know for sure is this team's not going to the postseason and NFL draft talk will start awfully early around here.
That's quite a departure from last season.
Now that's a hangover for fans, something that needs to be done to forget this season gone awfully wrong.
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