The world didn’t end on Saturday… or Sunday! (But it was crazy nonetheless)
If you were watching the news last week you know that some crazy conspiracy theory nut was absolutely convinced that I would be unable to write a column of any kind today because “Planet X will arrive and destroy the earth on September 23, 2017.
Yet here I sit tapping away at my keyboard and trying to figure out what exactly happened yesterday in the Steelers/Bears game, and in fact, in the entire NFL. I know that there is a portion of the Nation that thinks that David Meade (the aforementioned whack-a-doodle) was off by a day, and the world actually did come to an end sometime after 4:00 PM yesterday.
It didn’t.
The Steelers did lose to the Bears, and as aggravating and upsetting as that was, it really doesn’t change the overall narrative of the season – not yet anyway. It didn’t just happen Sunday either. We should have been clued into the fact that this weekend was going to be askew when the Rams and Niners played a game where they combined for 80 points.
Yes – the San Francisco 49ers, a team who managed 3 points against the Panthers and 9 points against Seattle was able to put up 39 points against a Rams defense that contains Aaron Donald, who most believe may be the best defensive player in the game. If you would have bet at MyBookie.ag that the Niners were going to score 39, you probably would have gotten the longest odds ever, and made huge mad money. But nobody made that bet because nobody believed that would happen.
And with that being said, they still lost the game by giving up 41 to the Rams (who are admittedly better than expected). So maybe we should have expected chaos to ensue.
Here are some other head-scratchers that occurred on Sunday.
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London
The Ravens were 2-0 and were traveling to London to face a Jaguars team that beat the Texans and lost to the Titans. The Jaguars had managed a total of 45 points in two games and the Ravens, at 2-0 had given up a total of 10 points over two games.
Blake Bortles had thrown as many INTs (2) as TDs on the season (2). The Ravens were being proclaimed the best defense in the history of the world, and potential playoff contenders based on the overwhelming power of that unit.
Then the game started.
The Ravens gave up 44 points to the Jaguars. Blake Bortles threw for 244 yards and FOUR TDs. FOUR! He had a QB rating of 128.2. Joe Flacco threw 2 INTs, 0 TDs, managed only 8 completions for 28 yards and a passer rating of 12. Yes, that’s right – TWELVE!
I picked the Jags in the upset, but I am honest enough to say I didn’t believe it would happen. I just hate the Ravens so much I can’t bear to pick them. And that vaunted defense (you know, the one that was going to power them into the playoffs), it gave up 244 yards passing, 166 yards rushing, allowed the Jaguars to score 4 red zone TDs in 6 attempts and looked about as effective as tissue paper in preventing the Jags from doing whatever they wanted.
Who saw that coming?
The Madness Was Everywhere
The Broncos and newly crowned “elite” quarterback Trevor Simien, who Phil Simms was gushing about during pre-games, got walloped by the Bills and Tyrod Taylor 26-16.
The Falcons nearly lost to the Lions and very well could have if not for a 10-second clock run-off rule that took the opportunity away from them.
The Patriots allowed a rookie quarterback (Deshaun Watson) to come into Foxboro and put up 33 points, pass for 300 yards and 2 TDs and had to depend on a last-second TD with time running out to pull off the win. But the Patriots don’t play down to bad teams, do they? I mean this is a team that had managed only 20 points all season, barely beat the Bengals (0-3) and were crushed by the Jaguars. While the Texans may not be bad, they aren’t good. Yet they went to the Patriots house and almost won.
The Jets, who most felt might be lucky to win a game this season, easily beat the Dolphins 20-6.
Another preseason Super Bowl favorite, the Green Bay Packers, allowed the Cincinnati Bengals to come into Lambeau Field and wrack up 24 points. They hadn’t scored a TD the entire season, and they put up 3 in the first half of the game! The Packers had to go into OT to win that game, and again, it was played in their house.
The other darling of the preseason, and the owners of an offense that had put up 71 points in two games, the Oakland (or Las Vegas) Raiders went to Washington to play the Redskins and got their butts beat, 27-10. Derek Carr – the man anointed to be the “next great franchise QB” looked average at best, throwing 2 picks, 1 TD and amassing a whopping 118 yards and a QB rating of 52.9.
The Vikings showed they can play football and beat up a good Tampa Bay team 34 – 17.
It was a wild Sunday, to say the least.
And Then There Was Chicago
I’m not going to blow smoke up anyone skirts here. The Steelers looked bad against the Bears. I still have to write my Good, Bad and Ugly article about this game, and I’m struggling to not be totally negative. The Bears won the game in OT because the Steelers could not figure out how to stop the run, especially runs to the left side which exposed the Steelers defense all day. It’s not fair to single out any one player (but that won’t stop me in the GBU article) because they all were out of position at various times, and the gap fill and run support was simply atrocious throughout the game.
We all thought they would win this game. We all hoped they would win this game.
They didn’t.
That leaves them at 2-1 for the young season and still tied for the top spot in the AFC North. Yes, I know, with tie-breakers the Ravens actually are in first. But if you want to use that same logic, guess what – the BILLS are in first place in the AFC East, because they have tiebreakers over the Patriots at the moment. The Chiefs are the lone undefeated team in the AFC.
The Steelers stumbled, and it’s aggravating and frustrating and with the emotion involved in yesterdays festivities due to nothing remotely related to football (and no, I am not getting into it) it’s no surprise that some fans might think that Planet X might have shown up and while not destroying the earth, caused some crazy things to happen.
Conclusion
The Steelers did not lose the division yesterday. They didn’t lose home field advantage or the top seed in the playoffs. They lost a game to the Bears that in the long run may be completely meaningless. It’s a non-division opponent. Other than potentially being a tie-breaker for the division if it gets to “common opponents”, it has almost no impact on their season. They played badly against a bad team. Special teams was a huge problem. The running game was non-existent and the passing game, when it wasn’t Ben to AB, was definitely below the line.
The Steelers still control their own destiny as much as any team does. Maybe more, because they play the Chiefs, the Patriots, the Titans, the Texans and the Jaguars – who at this point are all teams they may be in contention with for playoff seeding.
Win those games, and this game is even more meaningless.
If you want to follow the “they play down to bad teams” narrative, then you have to also adhere to the flipside of that narrative, which is that they play their best against quality opponents. If that’s the case, then they are in good shape – because out of their remaining 13 games, at this point, there are only 3 teams with losing records (Bengals, Colts, and Browns). Everyone else currently has a winning record. The Steelers don’t play a losing team until the Bengals in week 7.
Can they play the way they played Sunday and expect to win?
No, don’t be silly. Of course, they can’t.
Does history show that the Steelers play better as the season progresses?
Yes, in fact, it does.
They are not a finished product. If they win against the Ravens next week (and yes, I am aware that’s a big if as they have had huge problems winning in Baltimore of late), they’ll be 3-1, and in sole possession of the AFC North.
Trust me, the cloud of curse words floating above my house Sunday afternoon isn’t going to dissipate anytime soon. I was (and in many ways still am) PO’d. The cool thing about being realistic though is that if you have the opportunity to examine both sides of the issue, not just the negative side. You can be angry over a bad loss, and still believe that things can improve, and be realistic in saying that past history would indicate they will.
Every season is unique, and it is possible that the Steelers simply aren’t as good as we hoped they’d be. However, we are not at a point where we can truly evaluate that yet, and we won’t be for at least 13 more weeks.
Let’s suck it up and move on Nation – it’s Ravens Week!
