Monday, December 25, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Steelers are where they are today -- eliminated from the NFL playoffs a season removed from their Super Bowl championship -- on merit.
They are not there because Bill Cowher had a brain cramp and used Ricardo Colclough to catch a punt, which he fumbled, thus precipitating a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in September.
They're not there because Ben Roethlisberger threw four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, in a loss to the hapless Oakland Raiders in October.
They are there, with their hugely disappointing 7-8 record, for the age-old reason athletic teams fail: They're not good enough. At one time that might have been a fact hard for Steelers partisans to accept. But not if they were watching the game yesterday against the Baltimore Ravens.
For the second time this season, the Steelers were bashed by the Ravens. For the second time they were outplayed in every phase of the game. This 31-7 loss at Heinz Field wasn't as bad as the 27-0 defeat last month in Baltimore. But it came close.
There were almost no positives to take away from the game and not even a victory next week in the season finale at Cincinnati can put a pretty face on this ugly season.
Roethlisberger threw two interceptions and completed only 15 of 31 passes in what was another down day in his up-and-down season. Willie Parker, he of the multi-200 yard games, ran 13 times for 29 yards and continued to leave the impression that even if he is the third-leading rusher in the AFC he might not be the back the Steelers' ball-control offense needs.
The defense did not allow itself to be bullied by Baltimore running back Jamal Lewis, as was the case in the first game, but it nevertheless did not measure up. Lewis gained 77 yards on 24 carries. But what Lewis wasn't giving the Ravens, the superb Steve McNair was. He completed 21 of 31 passes for three touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns, 35 yards to Mark Clayton in the first quarter and 25 yards to Demetrius Williams in the third, were on magnificently thrown balls.
When the Steelers seized momentum late in the first half by converting a McNair interception into a touchdown to make the score 14-7, they seemed poised for a comeback. And that's what they would have done last season. But not this season. Instead, the Ravens took the second-half kickoff 69 yards in eight plays for a touchdown to seize control of the game and never let go.
There was a time when such a shift in momentum would have motivated the Steelers' defense to excel. But that level of play continues to elude this team.
"There's not a lot to say," Cowher noted in his postgame news conference. "We got beat by a better football team."
We might never know what went wrong. How did a team that finished so superbly last season -- eight wins in a row -- crumple so badly with minimal change in personnel?
There is no answer that makes complete sense. But the one that works the best goes back to the words of Parker, who, when the Steelers were 2-6, said:
"Last year, we were getting the job done, we just seemed hungrier. This year, it seems like we already got what we want, what's the use? What's the use of going out there and selling out?"
Not as hungry, not as mentally sharp, not as focused.
We saw all of that when Bryant McFadden intercepted a McNair pass on the Steelers' 2 late in the third quarter. He had done nothing more than prevent the Ravens from taking a 28-7 lead.
But the way he reacted, you would have thought his play had clinched another Super Bowl victory. He raised his arms to the crowd, stared down the Ravens' bench and chest thumped with a teammate. He seemed oblivious to the fact his team was losing by two touchdowns and had the ball on the 2 late in a game to one of the best defenses in football.
Cowher, who several times this season has promised better on-field behavior from his players, said he didn't see McFadden's showboating.
He did say, though, "In my mind, everything is relative to where you are in the game."
In other words, McFadden should have handed the ball to an official and walked off the field.
That's not how the game is played these days in most places. That didn't used to be the case with the Steelers, but it is today. It starts with talent and execution. But talent doesn't execute without proper attitude. And the Steelers are lacking in that area.
They've got one game remaining, which can salvage nothing, and a long offseason to think about what might have been.
(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com. )
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