Bad Sports Day In Pittsburgh, Part One - Steelers Lose to Jacksonville

In the pantheon of Disappointing Losses of Teams That I Follow, nothing is going to top Pirates-Braves Game 7 1992 NLCS (do I have to go into detail on that one?), but after pondering it for 24 hours, I can say that that Steelers 45-42 loss to the Jaguars on Sunday moves into the Number Two spot on my own personal list.  You all saw it, and you have all read and heard the comments over the last two days, so I won't go into a lot of detail, but here are some quick hit thoughts of my own....

• The two fourth-and-one calls.  Are you kidding me?  Tom Brady runs a successful quarterback sneak at least once every game it seems, and 260 pound Ben Roethlisberger can't be relied upon to get less than a yard?  And if those plays were called by Todd Hailey or Mike Tomlin, why didn't Ben just change it at the line?  He has certainly earned the right to do that.
• I have no problem with the decision to go for an onside kick when they did. I do have two other problems, though. (1) the horrible execution of said play, and (2) Mike Tomlin's reasoning  for it, which was that the Steelers had not shown an ability all day to stop the Jacksonville offense, and offense led by the immortal Blake Bortles.  Let THAT sink in on you for a minute.
• Yes, there was the interception and the fumble which led to to Jaguars scores, but you can't put this loss at the feet of Roethlisberger and the offense.  That was an almost heroic effort by Ben, who never gave up.  And will you ever see four more beautifully executed passes and catches than those first four TD passes to Brown (twice), Bryant, and Bell?  I have always said that you are never, ever out of a game when Roethlisberger is at quarterback for you.
• No, this loss goes to the defense, that could not stop a Jacksonville offense that is led, I once again remind you,  by Blake F. Bortles!  DC Keith Butler has got to be feeling some heat this week.
• That defense, by the way, did not force a single turnover all day.  Against Blake Bortles. Unbelievable.
• In his online column today, the PG's Paul Ziese states that in an era when the Steelers have had the best wide receiver, the best running back, and, at worst, the third best quarterback in the NFL, the Steelers have a 3-4 record in the playoffs.  No matter how you look at it, that is Underachieving with a capital U.  And how long will that Ben-Brown-Bell core remain intact?  2018 might be the last opportunity.
• This loss will become even harder to take when we all watch the Patriots crush the Jaguars this Sunday in Foxboro.  And the Pats WILL crush Jacksonville on Sunday.  That is a close to a lock as you can get at this point in an NFL season.
• Thanks to my pal Al Cotton for this next observation.  It is the common understanding that a team cannot succeed in the NFL unless they have a superstar "franchise quarterback", yet three of the final four quarterbacks in this season are Nick Foles, Case Keenum, and Blake Bortles.  Foles is a back-up playing only because of an injury to Carson Wentz, and it is a good bet that neither Keenum nor Bortles will be starting for their respective teams next year, or even be on that team next year.  Explain that one.

So, a season that had so much promise, that gave us so much excitement, ends not with a bang, but a whimper (that T.S. Eliot was an elegant sportswriter, wasn't he?). Very disappointing, but somehow, within 24 hours the Steelers North Shore neighbors, the Pirates, managed to outdo them when it came to ratcheting up the Disappointment Meter, and that topic deserves it's own separate Grandstander post, which I will begin writing as soon as I post this one.