Could missing the playoffs be a good thing in the long run?

OK so I think we would have gone into cincy and won no doubt about but then it would be off to Denver where I don't think we would have stood a chance. So that said yeah we would have made the playoffs and knocked out the Bengal but then we are picking like 10 or more spots lower then where we are now. This team is close and with another good draft, cutting the fat, and signing a a key FA or two this team will be ready to roll next year. I'm try excited about this team next year.

 

Let's just all keep telling ourselves that. It's an excellent coping mechanism.

 

Onward and upward! Don't
get a false sense of security here, we have lots of decisions to be made this off season.

 

Did we get hosed in the Oakland game?
How about the Viking game?

 

We were the hottest team in the NFL.

We didnt have a chance against Denver? A 2nd string team took a 1st string team to OVERTIME yesterday. We always have a chance.

Ok I agree, we blew some games. But nothing we can do about that, change going forward. This team was doing that, they had changed.

 

I don't think two back to back 8-8 seasons means a team is close or not, to me it means they are mediocre, average at best, and the last time we played in Cincy we lost..........

 

So does that mean that as long as Manning is in Denver that the Steelers should just play for a better draft spot? Denver can be beat and I think the Steelers were finally starting to gel. We had as much of a chance at beating them as anyone else.

 

Seems to me that the Ravens won in Denver last year.

 

This... doesn't work.

 

Exactly.

 

No we didn't. The reality is we lost too many games this year. Succup also missed the kick. He didn't miss the kick because of an illegal formation, he simply missed because he sucks. We didn't get hosed, we didn't take care of our business and in the end our luck ran out

 

It's hard for me to look at anything in the long run because right NOW I wish we were in the playoffs rather than being a better team in say 5 years

 

Yes, it should have been called, yes, it was human error, but there's human error in every single game, every single week. The top teams in the league consistently win despite inconsistent calls. We used to win consistently despite bad calls. We beat Indy in 2005 with bad calls, then we arguably got a few calls in our favour in the SB. It goes both ways, but good teams rise to the top regardless. We had our chance and we didn't get it done. It was lucky that we were still in it when the KC game went to OT, so yeah, I do think our luck ran out. It was a bad call, but that's part of sports.

 

Isn't the irony in the KC SD game is that it was AGAIN Bill Leavy. What is it w/this guy affecting the Steelers. The botched coin toss against the Lions on Turkey Day back in the early 2000's, SB 40 with the array of questionable calls, and years later this.

I remember the guy actually apologized for his calls to a Seattle crowd 3 or 4 years after SB 40 and Mike Perriera actually had to come out and correct him and say other than the botched call on Hasselback trying to make a tackle that all the disputed calls were correct. Hey maybe he figured this was his way to make amends.

 

No. Someone said that last year. Didn't work

 

you know in 2005, when manning was in Indy, and they had that unbelievable season, they said no one stood a chance to beat them at home either... let alone the 6th seed.

 

I loved this reply. I don't want to hear about earlier this year anymore. We were playing the best of any team left and would have had the chance to prove that were it not for multiple calls in that game. San Diego was not the better team and had the kick and call right the tie breaker would have shown that.

What bothers me additionally was hearing since the game that the NFL still hasn't closed the case against us about taking a draft pick away. Can they be serious after we were so directly hosed? I will lose all respect for the NFL if they take a draft pick from us, especially after Sunday.