This Game Hurt

The 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers are playing what is called the easiest schedule in the NFL.  It is hard to put stock in strength of schedule at the beginning of a season because there is so much that can happen like draft picks, free agency, injuries and luck.  But we certainly took credit for having the league's toughest schedule last season enroute to Super Bowl ring #6.

The Kansas City Chiefs are record wise, the bottom feeders for the AFC.  They are also particularly poor playing at home losing (until yesterday) 10 straight home games.  If people and the team were looking past the Chiefs, it was for good reason...The Chiefs are that bad.  

A loss is hard, especially coming off a winnable game last week to a divisional foe.  This game was also winnable at least until the 45 minute men met the 4th quarter.  The Steelers dominated on the stat page but that doesn't matter; it just makes it tougher to swallow.  Below are a few of my favorite lopsided losses by the Black and Gold in recent history:

Mike Tomlin should work for the Government.  He says the right things a lot and when there is something embarrassing going on a blue ribbon panel is stood up to investigate and to assure the public that swift action is going to occur so the embarrassing action will never occur again.  This is special teams.  The 2009 Steelers may go into the history books because of them and it isn't the good way.  The Steelers have given up four TDs in five games, something that hasn't happened since 1998 when the Vikings let that occur.

"It's embarrassing," Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward said of Jamaal Charles' 97-yard kickoff return that gave the Chiefs a 7-0 lead just 16 seconds in.

Jeff Reed has been getting some blame for his short kick-offs.  Yesterday his average kickoff landed at 5.2 yard line, a workable kick.  The coverage has been horrific is is #32 in the NFL averaging 26.9 yards per return.  So much, I'm willing to have Reed start kicking out of bounds, take the penalty and let the defense play (unless it is the 4th quarter).

Tomlin needs to have a special teams fire sale, starting with Bob Ligashesky.  The spec. teams have long been the Achilles heel of this team.  I was optimistic going into this season with this unit.  It appeared proper attention was given during camp to the special kids.  It appeared that players with some speed and athleticism were going to take this unit to a new level.  They are at a new level after game 10; one of the lowest in NFL history.  How long can a coach be employed for producing poor results?  For Bob's sake, I hope he is renting his house.

• I don't care how bad a team is in the NFL; every team is capable of scoring points.  Some call this parity but the fact is every team has some type of talent.  The Steeler Nation is quick to point out the talent that resides on the Steelers' 53 man roster.  This talent is superior on paper but paper doesn't play the game.  Yesterday, two of the worst teams in the NFL (Clev and Detroit) went head to head and put up 75 points.  KC obviously put up 27 against the defending champs.  Our 4th quarter woes require its own blue ribbon panel to investigate.
• The Steeler Nation has this infatuation with the national media and it's tendency to not give the Steelers respect.  Big Ben is never listed as elite and the team gets snubbed in Top 10 lists.  For those that are appalled that the Black and Gold aren't newsworthy, look no further than the past two games. 
• Last week, Hardnosed wrote in his Monday Evening QB: Younger Steelers fans have an inaccurate, fantastical picture of the 1970's.  They believe those teams never faced adversity and never lost to teams they were supposed to beat.  It happens.  It's the NFL.  This is quite true.  But they also played and won games with injuries to key players, many of them out together.  Like a playoff game for a running team missing Franco and Rocky.  Troy is a special player and an impact player, but the Troy is out excuse needs to go away.
• I love how the o-line plays well, unless they are playing against an athletic defensive front.

The season is not over, but time is running out.  Six games remain and half of those are divisional games.  Right now, the Steelers would enter the post season with a wild card.  They are #5 right now.  The division race is not over but we have yet to gain any ground over the Bengals.

It is not the time to jump off the Roberto Clemente Bridge, but Tomlin needs to gain some control.  The team needs something special in special teams and every team we play (including the Browns) needs to be taken seriously and understand that the Browns, Raiders and Dolphins are capable of beating this team and hanging points on the board, as much as we think they can't.