Wild Card @ KC

Tomlin hasn't been close to a Super Bowl with his own players- it is why he has critics.

 

Steelers will have to actually do something in the 1st half.
They have one first half touchdown in there last 7 games.

They will need to attempt to hold KC to FG's and not touchdowns.

They got to play the game to their ugly style, which will be hard to do.

Anything can happen, maybe it just magically happens.

But Steelers have to keep the contest close, if they keep it close they will have a punchers chance. If they let KC get out to a 16-21 Point lead there will be no come back.

Biggest thing will be to try to keep them at 25 points or less. Going to need some turnovers, some way some how, and we have to commit zero of them.

 

Don't remind me Probably the most confident I ever was of a Steeler win.

 

Was a tough one. That Niners team was absolutely stacked with 18 players who made a Pro Bowl. 82% of their starters made at least 1 Super Bowl... crazy. The AFC teams in that era were just competing to be a runner up. 13 years in a row the NFC won the Super Bowl just wild.

I was a kid then. Was trying to find a team. On Dec. 13th, 1993 I watched Monday Night Football and the Steelers defense have 5 sacks and force 3 turnovers against the Dolphins.

The Chargers WC loss is definitely my most painful Steelers memory but I'm glad I have it. I feel bad for kids who are 15 and their only memory of a Steelers AFC Championship game is being down by 24 to the Patriots going into the 4th.

 

Better than being a 15 year old Falcons fan.....

 

Then the painful memory would be a Super Bowl loss to the 49ers though. That roster was crazy. The Super Bowl the following year was less painful somehow. Cowher went to 3 AFC Championships in 4 years with Neil O'Donnell and Kordell Stewart which is pretty crazy when you think about it.

Cowher took Kordell in his first year as a starter up against John Elway in the AFC Championship game and lost by 3 points... what a great coach. Cowher took Ben to an AFC Championship game as a rookie also. You just can't keep great coaching down.

 

I'm old enough to remember the 1984 season AFC Championship vs Marino/Dolphins. Steelers were the only team to beat 49ers that year.

 

Yeah probably. The Falcons have had more postseason success than the Steelers over that time period (must be the only time in the Super Bowl era you can say that!) but they have had a lot of losing teams also. Falcons just bought into the "new NFL" passing game is everything BS when defense wins championships.

 

Yeah I was too young for any of the Noll era. That must have been wild. Marino then was absolutely lighting it up in a way that had never been approached in the NFL.

 

Yupp. Main reason the offense is so easily defended. They know Ben's arm is shot at this point so they just play everything in front of them because they don't really have to worry about anything deep.

 

Playing in a conference championship game isn't close to the Super Bowl? You're funny.

 

People forget that year a lot. A lot of teams credit the 85 dolphins for ruining the 85 bears perfect season but not the Steelers for that 84 season, maybe its because it happened in like week 7 or 8 and not later on in the season like when the Dolphins finally ruined the Bears undefeated season.

My brother is 10 years older than me, he said it was reason why Randy Cross hated the Steelers when he used to announce Steelers games.

He was mad that the Steelers ruined the 49ers perfect record in 1984.

Steelers actually had that 84 AFC championship game really tight at half time then Marino just took it over.

 

They did make a afc championship so I wouldn't say that. But they proceeded to get embarrassed by NE.

 

Got to get to the big game to get outcoached in it.

Teams have a chance in every game they are in... well except the 0-16 Browns.

The Steelers defense was definitely better than the Chargers. That 49ers defense was nasty though.

That 49ers defense allowed 3.6 ypc. It probably would have come down to Neil O'Donnell vs. a 49ers secondary with Deion, Merton Hanks and Tim McDonald. If you think O'Donnell liked throwing the ball to Larry Brown he really would have liked throwing it to Deion Sanders.

I'm not saying the Steelers couldn't have beaten the 49ers but it would have been vastly more difficult than beating the Chiefs on Sunday.

1994 - 49ers defense allowed 3501 yds passing 15 TD 23 INT 66.1 passer rating

3.6 yards per carry

2021 - Chiefs defense allowed 4273 yds passing 27 TD 15 INT 90.6 passer rating

4.8 yards per carry

Tomlin should definitely be able to get a win Sunday if you think Cowher could beat the '94 Niners.

*Edit: '94 49ers also scored 6 defensive TDs

 

94 Neil ODonnell completed 57% of his passes for 13 TD to 9 INT.

I'll take 21 Ben's 65% and 22 TD to 10 INT and an extra 60 yards per game passing.

A year ago Ben threw for 500 yards in a playoff game.

...

I agree that Cowher's defenses were way better than Tomlin's.

 

Which Tomlin team stood out to you as having a good running game? For me it was only during Munchak's time as OL coach. And even when the Steelers could run they chose not to.

 

My Ex called it The Day I Threw Everyone Out of The House Day. LoL. I didn't talk 2 anyone for almost 24 hours. LoL

 

I guess JuJu practiced today but still remains on IR list?

I thought his season was finished? Is it even possible for him to come back, thought he was on the season ending IR

Also James Washington activated from the Covid list as well..

 

Ben was a pretty good playoff QB under Cowher with a playoff record of 5-1. IMO Roethlisberger peaked in 2014. I don't think he was as good as a rookie as he was as a 10 year veteran so I don't see how the playing ability directly of the QB was the problem?

Cowher played Marty ball yes, but part of that was the Steelers didn't have a good QB. All the best QBs of the 90s had been drafted in the 80s and were on their teams by 1992 with the exception of Joe Montana who went to KC.

If Ben is the problem, as you say, then why is the game plan to throw 46 times per game? That is Ben's playoff average. No running game to support him outside of 2014-16 and Bell was hurt most years.

Yes, the offense is geared towards passing but how is Ben to blame for the running game? Buffalo has one of the best running games in the NFL to compliment Josh Allen (a comparable QB to Ben). It isn't Ben's fault the offense is one dimensional.

I used to be much more critical of Ben like you. My thinking changed when I saw how well he played from 2014-2018. I did have him as a top 5 QB for that time period. The other thing that changed my mind is that when Ben isn't playing well and when he is 39 coming off a severe elbow injury there is no run game to support him. When Duck and Mason played QB for 2019 there was no run game to support them.

So Ben is less egotistical and obstinate than I had thought. I know he doesn't like playing under center and the Steelers do not; but I also know he hates playing dink and dunk and the Steelers have been doing that since 2018.

I understand where you are coming from and used to think very similarly to you. I want you to know you are not alone and we agree more than you think.

 

Me too! It's also the day Bacardi stock spiked!

 

I wasn't aware that the only people on the field are coaches and quarterbacks. Who knew!?