Monday, October 16, 2006
By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In a minute less than three hours at Heinz Field yesterday, a perfect storm of football excellence obliterated about three weeks of perfectly ridiculous football negativism. Much to the amazement of the many who considered them dead or near-death after only four games, the Steelers are well, and of greater importance, very much alive in the pursuit of another Super Bowl championship.
What are we going to talk about this week, Pittsburgh?
No more Big Ben bashing. No more coach trashing. No more defense thrashing. No more wide receiver smashing.
A 45-7 flogging of the Kansas City Chiefs turned the season right side up after three consecutive losses had turned it upside down. The fact division rivals Cincinnati and Baltimore both lost considerably tightened the AFC North race and left the Steelers in control of their own destiny.
The team that was two games down with four weeks remaining last season is one game down in the loss column with 11 weeks remaining. It is hardly an insurmountable challenge for the defending Super Bowl champion, particularly after the Bengals and Ravens gave indication they are eminently catchable in losses to Tampa Bay and Carolina, respectively.
The absurd notion that the Steelers might have to win 10 of their final 12 games merely to notch a playoff spot seems laughable today.
The panic over the defeats, in consecutive games to Jacksonville, Cincinnati and San Diego, had become an epidemic in Steelers Nation, where passionate loyalty runs neck-and-neck with over-the-top second-guessing. Ignored in the panic were the facts the losses came against championship caliber teams and that the games were close. The Steelers were not that far off, although few wanted to admit that.
"Two or three different plays changed this game and could have changed last week's game," said offensive tackle Max Starks. "There are minute things that can alter a game. Today we made the plays."
Many reasons had been put forth for the Steelers' slump and most of then centered around quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who -- there's no other word for it -- stunk in the team's three defeats. Some insisted he was not mentally over his near-fatal motorcycle accident in the spring.
Others said the September appendectomy had rendered him weak and not ready to play.
He exploded all those myths against the Chiefs with a near-perfect display of football. He completed 16 of 19 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns. Better than that, the passing game gobbled up large chunks of yardage on single plays as Roethlisberger threw to Santonio Holmes for 50 yards, Nate Washington for 47 and Hines Ward for 28.
Willie Parker dashed for 109 yards on 21 carries and backup Najeh Davenport ran for 78 on 12, including a run of 48 yards, behind an offensive line that returned to its pre-eminent status.
The defense throttled and confused Kansas City quarterback Damon Huard, who completed 16 of 32 passes for 162 yards, and held stud running back Larry Johnson to 26 yards on 15 carries.
Flawless is not a word that should normally be used in describing so complicated and multi-faceted an endeavor as a football game, but this one came close to deserving such a label.
Coach Bill Cowher was asked about the negativism from media and fans that had surrounded the team. He smiled as the question was being asked, almost as though he had been waiting for it and wanted it.
"To be honest with you, and we've talked about it, it's how you deal with it. You knew it was going to be there. Those are the things you have to develop a toughness for mentally.
"What are you going to do the first time you have a three-and-out? What's going to happen the first time they get a couple of first downs? To me, it's how you deal with those things. You'll either become more determined or you can get frustrated and let your circumstances take over and shut it down.
"We have some mentally tough people and some people who have been there before."
Although praising his team, Cowher spoke cautiously about the future, as well he should. This was Kansas City, a team that had beaten only San Francisco and Arizona, NFL lightweights. In two of the next three games the competition is considerably more high-level -- Atlanta on Sunday and Denver.
"There is still a lot of football left to be played,'' he said, "and we still have a long way to go. You don't just get there in one game.
"We still have some work to do, trust me."
He is, of course, correct. But the string of defeats is behind them, their confidence is returning and Super Bowl hopes correctly remain alive in Pittsburgh.
(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com. )
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