Who Is To Blame for the Steelers Horrendous Season??

That Face Pretty Much Sums Up The Steelers' Season...

So its been a long time since I've posted anything on the site.  Sure, the holidays were a reason why I was busy traveling and spending time with family, but the other was that I was unusually depressed (not in the literal sense) after the Steelers lost to the Bengals and sealed their fate for a non-playoff season.  The fact that the Steelers aren't going to be in the postseason for the just the third time since 2003 is shocking, but also amazing.  The turnover in the NFL is tremendous and the fact the Steelers have been at least in the mix for a Lombardi except the '03, '06 and '09 seasons is a tremendous feet for the organization.  With the Steelers finishing 8-8, its been since the 2003 (Tommy 'Gun' Maddox Era) season that the Steelers have had a losing record.  Nonetheless, it doesn't lessen the sting of a season that literally fell apart at the seams.  So who is to blame for the Steelers horrendous season?

Was it the curse of Heinz Field?  If you haven't heard of this before, there are people who have realized that the Steelers have missed the playoffs every 4th year since Heinz Field has been built.  For me, this is such a ridiculous claim that I didn't even go back and fact check to see if the every 4 year thing was even a reality.  Even if it does turn out to be true, there is no way I am going to put stock in the fact that it even played a roll in the Steelers losing.

Was it the NFL "sticking it" to the Steelers for being so successful and Roger Goodell's personal vendetta against Mike Tomlin and his team?  Sure, there are times where I feel certain officials call the Steelers games differently from other teams (especially certain players like James Harrison and Ryan Clark), but I can't believe that had much to do with the Steelers missing the playoffs.

Was it the lack of leadership from Mike Tomlin on down throughout the team?  This might have more to do than any of the other "theories" I've heard since the Steelers lost to the Bengals, but in my opinion, there is no correlation between someone giving a Joey Porter "Rah Rah" speech and how they play when they get on the field.  There are teams like the Patriots who don't have any emotion at all, but simply go out and handle their business.  The Steelers are typically the loud, boisterous, angry team that is vocal and physical.  The team didn't have that trademark player who brought the swagger to the team.  Leadership could have been an issue, but who are we (the fans) to know if that is really an issue...we aren't in the locker room and at practices.  I don't put too much stock into the leadership being a major problem.

You could go on and on about what were the main reasons for the Steelers demise this year...you could talk about the horrible turnover ratio, you could talk about the defense blowing 4th quarter leads in the first quarter of the season, you could talk about poor coaching decisions, you could even talk about injuries as a main reason, but whichever way you look...one thing remains the same...the team just wasn't good enough.  Did they have the talent to put together a great year?  Sure they had the talent, but like Hines Ward used to say "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." 

The Steelers are facing some very difficult decisions here in the next few months with Free Agency and even some coaching decisions with personnel.  I plan on outlining those decisions by week's end and hopefully that will help everyone's "healing process" after this season spiraled out of control...