The year of the “almost” comeback

Can you imagine what a different feel this season would have had we completed the comebacks against the Chargers and the Vikings? We’d actually taken the lead against the Chargers but the defense was too porous to hold it and a great play by the Vikings DB knocking the ball out of Muth’s hands was the difference in that game. I have to feel that with the momentum we had we would have converted the two point conversion and won the game in OT. But I realize that it’s all just conjecture and “if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we’d have Christmas all year round”.

Oh well…I guess the important question is why has a slow start and falling way behind become a hallmark of this team? It’s almost as if we’re not prepared for the other team’s gameplan and are caught off guard initially before figuring it out. To me, that’s on the coaching. Thoughts?

 

17-18 years of drafting in the bottom half puts a limit on things

 

This has been the most disappointing season since 2003. No doubt. I hope some màjor changes are coming in the off-season or it's gonna be the mid to late 80's, late 90'a all over again.

 

Can you imagine what a different feel this season would have had we not pulled out close W's vs the Browns, Bears, Ravens, and Lions (ok, a tie in that last one)?


Point is that the Steelers should thank their lucky stars their record is as good as it is, not bemoan it. Only one other team in the entire NFL with a negative point differential has a better record than the Steelers' 6-6-1 and that's the Browns at 7-6.

Outperforming your point differential in any sport is usually just temporary luck (Note: this point has been argued here, but the analytics are pretty clear on this.)

Just to make the point, here are the number of teams in 2015-2021 that ended the season with more W's than the Steelers and the number of teams with better point differentials than the Steelers:

2015, 7 and 6
2016, 4 and 4
2017, 0 and 6
2018, 11 and 10
2019, 13 and 17
2020, 3 and 4
2021, 16 and 22.

So the Steelers were basically where they should have been in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020. Slightly better in 2019 and somewhat better in 2017 and 2021. 2017 looks a lot better, but they were among 4 teams tied with a league leading 13 wins that year.

Basically, this team could just as easily be 5-8 or 4-9 as it could be 8-4-1. 6-6-1 at this point is pretty good considering.

 

I tried to condition myself before the regular season started not to expect much out of this team. So, I'm not surprised by their current record. I don't think a lot of these guys will be back next year and out of the group that are, some will not be starters. They simply do not have enough talent on both sides of the ball.

 

Just finishing .500 would be a major accomplishment at this point.

 

I don’t see how anyone can believe that sentiment. 4/5 of the offensive line and the te are rookies/new. Also have a rookie running back, an inside linebacker coming off major injury, and a new oc. That’s not a recipe for success.

 

Its always a thin line between winning and losing for just about every team. Look at the Lions this year. They have a horrible record, but half their games have been decided on the last possession or the last play of the game. One bad pass, turnover, bad penalties can turn a win to a loss, or vise versa, for every team, in every game.

 

You could play this what if both ways ..We could legit have only ONE win ( the first game )...

We could have EASILY lost every game we've won ( and tied )

 

Please god no lol

 

I haven't seen a Steelers defense get ran over the way it has this season in my entire lifetime. I was born a few weeks before the immaculate reception. Maybe in the 60's it was this bad?

 

I don’t know why people want us to make the postseason just to get pummeled and get a worse draft pick. No thanks lol I can suffer a bad season or 40(lions) jk

 

The Lions have the 29th worst point differential in the league. Only the Jags, Jets, and Texans have worse point differentials. Not coincidentally, those four are the only teams currently eliminated from the playoffs.

They really don't deserve anything but the record they have.

 

Anything I've ever read or heard about pre-Super Steelers era was that they weren't that good for the most part and they would probably lose, but your team was going to feel the effects of that game for the rest of the week.

You could sum up the Steelers toughness (and the toughness of that era overall) with this famous photo of Giants QB Y.A. Tittle.

Here's a story behind the photo for those that aren't already familiar with it: The story behind Y.A. Tittle's famous photo (247sports.com)

 

Thank the gods that Henry is on IR. If he was healthy, this game would be over by halftime.

 

The comebacks don't impress me so much. IMO the teams had a big enough lead going into 4th qtr. that they eased up a little. The Detroit tie bothers me. Ben playing we win and if we miss the Playoffs because of that game I'll be super PO'd.

 

We also had some lucky wins.

There are seasons were bad luck gives a good team more losses then they should have…. And there’s seasons were good luck gave you more wins then you deserve. This season is clearly a year were the record is better than the team actually is . Go back to our 11-0 start last season. Since then we are among the worst in the league.


I think you can attribute our wins this season to a few things…. The league is a mess. The fine line cliche is spot On. Also Ben and Watt. Watt makes game changing plays and Ben keeps us in most games. Ive never seen a qb that always does just enough to keep you in it but needs someone else to win it. Guess that goes with his age right now.

without either of these two guys we would be on par with the Lions.

 

Do you know how difficult it is to finish .500 at the end of a 17 games season?

 

Not sure where to post this,, so here ya go

 

I remember it well. Big Daddy was a beast for the Steelers around then.