The improbability of it all

Guys, have we really taken the time to think about what’s going on at this moment in Steeler history? I’ve been a fan for close to 50 years now and I know some on this board have been fans longer than that while others of you young whipper snappers haven’t been fans for nearly as long. But we’re all getting to witness history in the making.

I don’t want to overstate this, but when we were 7-7 after a bad loss to the Colts preceded by two historically bad losses to the Card and Pats, we thought our chances of finishing the season at 7-10 was much greater than winning out and finishing the season at 10-7 didn’t we?

And then in steps the forgotten quarterback, the afterthought right around Christmas time. Perfect timing for a QB by the name of Rudolph. And then…he won the game against the Bengals. Not only that, he looked darn good in doing it. Not only that, he led the team to 34 points! Wow! And it was a nice story with everyone having fun saying that Rudolph had saved Christmas for the Steelers but none of us knew how much further we’d go and we really didn’t think the playoffs were a possibility.

Then…Tomlin names Rudolph the starter against the Seahawks because Kenny’s injury was still being evaluated and the team didn’t think he’d be at 100%. So the ball is still in Mason’s hands in Seattle, a place where the Steelers had not won in 40 years (before some of you were born). And…we won again…in convincing fashion…scoring 30 points and could have been more…and Rudolph played extremely well…AGAIN!!

Now we’re starting to pay attention. Pickett’s healthy so what will Tomlin do now going into the must win season finale against its most hated rival? And I’ll be darned, Mason gets to keep the ball in his hands while Kenny roams the sidelines as QB2. Terrible conditions, dogfight, close game as they always are against the Rats. And Mason comes through again completing 90% (a Steelers record) of his passes in a swamp in Baltimore and hooking up with DJ at the most critical point in the game for a huge TD putting the Steelers up by two scores in the 4th quarter! We won…again…and the Rats really wanted to beat us in spite of some of their starters sitting.

And now we’re on to the playoffs where anything can happen. I know it’s a long shot for us to even win a game, but I have a better feeling about this team than I did about the last team we fielded in the playoffs because we have a QB in his prime with a hot hand and he has a myriad of offensive weapons to work with and seems to know how to use them to score points! If the offense and defense can continue to play complimentary football, we just might be able to make some noise. But even if we’re eliminated in the WC round, this has been a fun and historical little run.

Thank you, Mason, for injecting some life back into an offense that had become painful to watch. I’m glad I’ve gotten the opportunity to experience this with you guys and look forward to keeping it going for a few more weeks.

 

1989 was a very unlikely playoffs team too after 2 games!

 

Agree 100%. I think next week really comes down to our offensive line. If they get owned its game over. If they play well and give Mason time and run block and lastly don't commit presnap penalties we can surprise a team. They have to play perfect I think!! Surprisingly, its been our D in the previous playoff games that just fell apart and got smoked but we can't do too much about our injuries at this point, just hope they don't get torched.

 

That is true. I thought we were dead in the water after the first two games. I guess the Rudolph effect makes this a little different given that our written off third string emergency quarterback has revitalized his career with three strong performances propelling us into the post season.

 

Improbability of it all @JackAttack 5958?! Nah, nah, nah... your doing it wrong yo!!


Lemme show ya "improbability" done... the right way!!

 

Wow! That’s terrible.

 

Let's all be thankful that the defense got those 7 wins before Mason single-handedly got the last 3.

 

I've been saying for weeks now that if the Steelers get into the playoffs with Mason - if the players on the team are genuinely committed to him, believe in him, and actively want to win it all to save the dude's career after years of being pushed into the background - they could be really dangerous. There are arguably many examples of teams who've won it all because they rallied around one or two players, or coaches - including the (extremely improbable) 6th seed Steelers with Bettis in SB40. As such, I would honestly not be surprised to see this team going pretty far, fueled at least in part, by that premise, bc in my heart of hearts, I can guarantee that the vast majority of players on this team don't want to see Mason being a real estate agent next year.

 

I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade but we were pretty much 6 inches away from being eliminated today and it didn’t need to come down to that. There were terrible decisions all
season long by the coaching staff. I am happy though and want to see us advance but I really need my fingernails back.

 

Told people about Doug Pederson being the wrong guy for the Jaguars years ago. For that matter, tried to tell people that Pederson cost the 2020 Eagles by waving the yellow flag in the season finale game by benching Jalen Hurts. People may now realize that Pederson simply isnt a good coach.


Now, did he win a Super Bowl?! Against the likes of Belichick and Brady?! No doubt. However, Belichick saw to it that the Patriots would likely lose that game by benching his number one Corner. That, along with a surging Eagles Defense, won them that game. Granted, Nick Foles played great but that game was more so won by the Defense than the Offense; doubly so in the First Half.

 

Glenn’s capitulation on Tomlin was the bottom. Just let me know when he capitulates on the stock market and I’ll go all in!

 

Oh, and I think they can also be inspired by wanting to get TJ a win, especially after he got injured AND snubbed for DPOY.

 

You'd think we'd won the SB with the amount of enthusiasm. By the way. that would be improbable.

 

Super Bowl MVP- Rudolph



imagine that.

 

Yep. Very improbable finish to the season. We had some outrageously good tie breakers going into the last week for a 9-7 team. That plus last game Ratbirds had no interest in trying to knock us out. Definitely some luck on how schedule fell for us. However, not all luck. We were winning games to finish up the season. I think we earned a wildcard.

 

Not so sure about that....

 

That probability model didn’t factor in the curse of the terrible towel

 

it's ridiculously improbable, and I want everyone here to remember what happened this season, so next year I won't have to read threads like-

we can't win on the road
we can't win on the West Coast
we can't win in our division
no other teams will give us help to make the playoffs
we have only a 6% percent to make the playoffs now so let's tank the rest of the season

 

STEPPED ON A POP TART (watercooler)
BLEW OUT A .......

 

Going into the season, I was thinking Steelers are a play off if they get decent, not great, QB play.

It took 14 games, but eventually, they got decent QB play.

Hope it continues.

 

that is insane, but honestly I cannot remember an NFL year where the improbable happened as much as this one. With our own team, the winning record at the first part of the year with more points against than points for, other teams that normally would be rules out making comebacks to get in (including us). The number of QB;s who have started games this year, especially those who were not on the team or number 3 unlil the last couple of weeks, (us and browns) making the play offs. the Rams and Bucs with the number of rookies on their teams (contributing as well) amd making the PO's. Probably more if I dig into it, but strange season.

 

It's easy if you try.

 

nad honestly I did not think the decent play would come from MR, lol. Not that I did not think he was able, truthfully it was not a thought at all.

 

You don't know the board very well.

 

Even if jacksonville had scored that touchdown, They still needed the two point conversion for a tie. Even if all that happened and the jaguars came back to win, The steelers still would not have been eliminated. Saying they were six inches away from elimination is being overly dramatic and factually incorrect.