After ten games in 2018, the Steelers stood at 7-2-1, held a comfortable lead in the AFC North, and they appeared to be headed towards a playoff spot and first round bye. What then followed was a disastrous 2-4 finish that included losses to two lousy teams, the Broncos and Raiders, a loss to a very good Chargers team wherein they gave away 16 point lead at home, and a win they barely eaked out over another crummy team, the Bengals. Oh, they did manage to get one monkey off their backs by beating the evil forces of Kraft, Bellichick, Brady, and the Patriots in that 2-4 stretch. That was quite satisfying at the time, but when the totality of the season is considered, it turns out to have been, at best, a hollow victory.
So, yeah, this team, one that by all accounts seemed to be loaded with Super Bowl caliber talent, ends up missing the playoffs and the 2018 season can only be categorized as a disappointment (or worse!).
Some random thoughts from this section of The Grandstand....
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With perfect 20/20 hindsight, Steelers management clearly underestimated the resolve of Le'Veon Bell and his willingness to not get paid in the short term in hopes of getting a huge guaranteed contract in the long term. Bell was certainly within his rights to do so, and, financially at least, he was the only person who "lost" anything by this strategy. Whether he gets the big money he desires remains to be seen, but if you placed a gun to the heads of Art Rooney, Kevin Colbert, and Mike Tomlin and insisted they speak the truth, I'm willing to bet that they now wish that they would have traded Bell before the season started and gotten something, even a mid-level draft pick for him. As it is, Bell will achieve free agent status and the team will get bupkis for him.
Of course, the Steelers could impose a franchise tag on him again next season, but please, God, spare us from that particular melodrama again.
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The newspaper today tells us that, statistically at least, the Steelers had the sixth best defense in the NFL in 2018. Really? When you watched this team all season, did you ever once think that you were watching a top tier defensive unit?
The defense forced only 15 turnovers all year, and had only eight interceptions, and I would have guessed that they had even fewer than that paltry number. It was baffling to me to watch a team that just could not force turnovers on a regular basis. This became all the more glaring and galling when in the game against the Patriots, Joe Haden DID make an interception, and off of Tom Brady, no less. That play was critical in the Steelers winning that game, and it made the fact that they had so few throughout the season all the more frustrating.
I am not a football coach, so I won't even pretend to talk about the X's and O's of the game, but it seems to be obvious that something needs to be done with the defensive coaching staff leading into 2019.
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Special teams. On the plus side, there was that fake field goal attempt that led to a Chris Boswell-to-Alejandro Villanueva touchdown pass, there was a blocked FG by L.J Fort, and there was, well, what other good things were there? Chris Boswell's implosion has been well documented, and did the Steelers ever have a kick off or punt return of any significance at all this season? If they did, it's not coming to mind right now.
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Ben Roethlisberger hung some great numbers this year. Total yards, TD passes....he set team records in both categories, and he became the first Steelers QB and only the seventh NFL QB to throw for over 5,000 yards in a season. There is still no QB I would rather see with the ball late in the fourth quarter when you need to drive a team down field with little time left on the clock to get a score to win a game. This was demonstrated time and again this season. The win against Jacksonville comes to mind, and even in losses to Oakland and New Orleans, Ben did what had to be done when the game was on the line. He even finally outplayed and defeated the great Tom Brady.
He also led the league with 16 interceptions, including a terrible one in the closing seconds against Denver in the end zone when he was on the cusp of pulling off another fourth quarter, last minute comeback.
What caused this to happen? Poor coaching and play calling? Bullheadedness on Ben's part? Or after fifteen seasons and at age 36, is Father Time beginning to catch up to Big Ben? Again, I'm not a coach, so I don't pretend to know the answers. I'm glad that #7 will be back at the helm once again next year, but he can't go on forever.
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There were bright spots that need to be recognized....James Conner's performance sparked the team through that mid-season 6-0 streak and that 7-2-1 record. He seemed to more than make up for Bell's absence. Still, there were two critical fumbles that led directly to the Browns being able to pull off that tie in the season opener, and in another game, the exact one I cannot remember at the moment, that led to a Steelers defeat. Plus, he missed three games due to injury down the stretch, so he has yet to be able to stay on the field for a full sixteen game schedule.
Also, T.J.Watt sure seems to be a guy on defense who was well worth that number one draft pick two years ago.
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And then there is Antonio Brown.
First off, Brown is the best WR in football. He is also probably the best player on the Steelers team and its most valuable player (and that fact that he wasn't voted that award by his teammates appears to be quite telling in light of the events of the last week of the season).
All that aside, the drama that he generates - and I am not going to list all of there incidents of this past season; if you follow the team, you know of them - along with the unbelievable narcissism, reached its zenith this past week leading up to the Bengals game. Skipping practices, not showing up for a final walk through the day before the game, then having his agent, not him, his agent, calling Tomlin and saying he'll play on Sunday, showing up pregame on the sideline and then leaving the Stadium at halftime, then not returning phone calls from his bosses, including the team president, all of that adds up to a guy who (a) no longer wants to be with the team, and (b) should not be with the team in the future. His actions have led to what appears to be a breakdown in team morale, as evidenced in numerous quotes this week from unnamed players on the team, and has called into question Tomlin's ability to maintain discipline and the aforementioned morale among the team. I know that there are salary cap implications that make it difficult to either trade or release Brown, but somehow or another, I believe that bringing Brown back to this team in 2019 is going to just allow what was apparently a real problem on the team and in the locker room to get even worse.
Antonio Brown is a great player and it won't be easy to replace him, but let's face it, the Steelers haven't won any Super Bowls, or even had a lot of post season success, WITH him on the team these last few years, have they?
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I imagine that the 2018 season post-mortem discussions that will take place among Art Rooney, Kevin Colbert, and Mike Tomlin are going to be really, really interesting these next few weeks. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.....
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Despite some highs - hey, the season was not without its great moments - and lows, in the end, the images of the 2018 Pittsburgh Steelers will forever be.......
Le'Veon Bell on a jetski in Miami, and
Antonio Brown in a mink coat on the sidelines against the Bengals, right before he blew off his team and left Heinz Field.
On the bright side, it will be stress-free watching the NFL Playoffs without the Steelers in them this year.
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