On ESPN analyst Kevin Clark’s This Is Football show, Clark and his guest, former NFL cornerback and ESPN analyst Dominique Foxworth, laid out the path for how each team can win the Super Bowl. Clearly, though, the two don’t feel the Steelers have any chance of hoisting the franchise’s seventh Lombardi Trophy, as Foxworth said it would take an “epidemic” for the Steelers to win the Super Bowl.
When the Steelers came up, Clark told Foxworth, “We just have to go through the exercise.” Foxworth’s response wasn’t a positive one for the Steelers winning.
“An epidemic of some kind,” Foxworth jokingly answered. “T.J. Watt has to be incredible,” he added. Clark chimed in, “He has not been.”
“It’s a defensive run. It’s the Giants, their front four. It’s a run like that,” Foxworth said, giving a serious answer.
The chances for Pittsburgh to beat the Baltimore Ravens in the wild-card round are slim, and their chances of winning the Super Bowl are even lower. But they’re in the field, and they’ve shown at times this season they can be a really good team. Of course, they’ve lost four games in a row and have looked like the opposite of a good team over that stretch. They have issues cropping up on both sides of the ball that have prevented the Steelers from looking like a team capable of winning the Super Bowl.
The Giants team that Foxworth referenced, I assume, was the 2007 team, one that closed the season 1-2 but was led by their defense as the NFC’s No. 6 seed to the Super Bowl. They pulled off one of history’s greatest Super Bowl upsets by beating the previously undefeated New England Patriots 17-14. The Steelers have a lot of talent on defense and the type of talent to win games, thanks to their defense. While Clark is right that Watt hasn’t played to his usual standard, he’s still taken over games at times this year. If he does it again in the postseason, the Steelers will have a chance to make a run.
Along with Watt, Cameron Heyward, Alex Highsmith, and Minkah Fitzpatrick can impact games defensively. The defense going on a run and being a team that can force takeaways will be key if the Steelers hope to go far in the playoffs. Offensively, they’ll have to play a whole lot better than they have and be a team that churns the clock, stays on schedule, and wins the possession battle. Winning the turnover battle defensively will also help that happen.
The Steelers’ chances of making a playoff run and winning the Super Bowl are undoubtedly slim, but it won’t take an epidemic for them to find a way out of their rut and start winning games.
