Here we are, the day after one of the most embarrassing losses in Steelers history, just 5 days after the previous most embarrassing loss in Steelers history. Perhaps Mike Tomlin had it wrong. Instead of unleashing hell, perhaps he meant unleashing smell, as in we stink. Before anyone goes telling me what a bad fan I am, please know that I am 42 and suffered through the teams of the 80\’s. I made it through that, I will make it through this. To say the least, every member of Steeler Nation has to be embarrassed with losses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns. No offense to their fans, but those are some bad teams this season. Are we that bad? No, the team just looks fragmented and leaderless. They each look like they met each other for the first time last night and decided to try and take on the Browns in the freezing cold.
Last night lacked several things, the most important being swagger. I know it was cold last night, but these guys are paid a kings ransom to play in bad conditions. The Steelers looked cold and alone last night. They looked like they couldn\’t wait to get off of the field and back in front of the sideline heater. Perhaps they mentally could not get past the every media outlet saying they can\’t win without Troy Polamalu. I am not sure Polamalu could of even helped last night, that is unless they put him in on offense in the Wildcat package.
December will indeed bring another smell over the next few weeks as well. That smell is the smell of change. Tomlin needs to find out what he has in the young defensive players on the roster. Ziggy Hood, Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis need as much game time as possible. The Steelers must know if all three 2009 draft picks will be long time contributors on defense going forward.
Trying to end on a positive note, I will tell you that, this too shall pass. The Steelers will get this fixed in the offseason and should still be able to compete in 2010 with a few fixes in all 3 phrases of the game. Without a doubt though, December sure hasn\’t smelled holiday-ish. It has smelled like poop. I did see some hell though in December, the last 2 games were hell to watch.
