Sure Looked Like A Let Down To Me - Steelers - 16 / Chiefs - 13 (OT)

The Hit That Turned SteelerNation Upside Down

Everyone talked about it and everyone brushed it off (including me).  No one thought that after the Steelers had already lost to 2 "sub-par" teams that they would even let the notion of looking over the Chiefs and ahead to the Ravens would even factor into the equation.  We were all wrong.  What SteelerNation, and the national viewing audience, got to watch last night was the classic "let down" performance.  The Steelers won't say so, and Mike Tomlin will give his weekly vocabulary lesson during his weekly press conference making it sound like it was a "beautiful win", and "style points don't matter".  I agree with that statement about 99% of the time, but this is one of the 1% where I call Bull Sh!t.  Other than the defense finally putting forth an effort that resembled domination, there was nothing note worthy or "beautiful" about the Steelers' victory on Monday Night.  Whether it was the numerous fumbles, the poor offensive line play, or the fact the defense gave up a huge drive to have the Chiefs send the game into overtime....any way you look at it, the Steelers forgot to show up in every facet on Monday Night. 

As I sat in my basement watching the game, I kept thinking to myself, "This is horrible football...both teams are playing like garbage!"  If you follow me on Twitter, then you saw some of my "beautiful" rants about the quality of play the Steelers were showing on the national stage.  I was so frustrated that at one point I felt I was watching a game I had seen before.  Not the two duds the Steelers laid earlier this season against the Titans and Raiders...no this went back a few years.  This game reminded me of the Monday Night Football game between the Steelers and Dolphins that ended with a final score - Steelers - 3 / Miami - 0.  The comparisons are uncanny.  The Steelers were supposedly a dominant team and the lowly Dolphins were sporting Jon Beck at QB.  The Dolphins couldn't get out of their way all night, and if it weren't for a brilliant Cam Cameron decision to not try and kick the FG, but go for the score on 3rd and long that led to a James Harrison sack / fumble that eventually led to Jeff Reed nailing the game winning field goal.  Remember the game where the football landed directly into the turf and didn't bounce?  For crying out loud Tony Kornheiser was a part of the Monday Night Football crew! 

I felt the game last night was just as bad as that Dolphins game a few years back.  The Steelers looked as if they didn't even want to be there.  It wasn't until desperation time that the Steelers finally showed some life and made JUST ENOUGH plays to win the game.  I've always lived by the motto "Good teams find ways to win the ugly games..." and I believe that.  This was truly an ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly game, but there is alot of work to be done before the Steelers are able to think they can hang with the Ravens or any other AFC powerhouse until they actually tighten up the bolts and learn to play winning football against teams that they should demolish. 

Nonetheless, even I can get a little too worked up on how the Steelers win.  If I can give any advice to SteelerNation it is just this - don't get too worked up over the injury report or even the fact the Steelers looked like putrid trash on Monday Night.  Instead, turn all your attention to the Ravens game that is coming up on Sunday Night Football.  I think the Steelers can beat the Ravens without Ben, but if you watched the entire game on Monday Night you'll agree that they will have to perform better than they did against the Chiefs for that to happen.