Steelers face tough road to get to playoffs
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A three-game losing streak has the Steelers teetering on missing the playoffs, which would become their biggest collapse in club history.
No team in the franchise's first 72 seasons started 7-2 or better and missed the playoffs. No. 73 could end that.
Their task is difficult yet clear: If they win their next seven games, they likely will play in the Super Bowl. They have to win their final four regular-season games -- no team has missed the playoffs with an 11-5 record in 20 years -- to earn a wild-card playoff spot. Then they would have to win three in a row on the road to make the Super Bowl.
Simple, but unlikely, so it appears another season will go by without the first Super Bowl dynasty claiming another Vince Lombardi Trophy. That would make 26 seasons, and counting. At least the Steelers won't get another chance to lose an AFC championship game at home this season.
Coming as it did after a 15-1 record and their fourth loss in the conference title game at home in 11 seasons, and after a 7-2 start in this one, a failure to make the playoffs would be a letdown of large proportions, not only for Steelers fans but for ownership as well.
It was March 20 when team president Art Rooney II announced that time was at hand for the franchise to win another Super Bowl.
"I think for the people who have been around for a while now, I think we all feel like it's time," Rooney said at the NFL meetings that day. "We've been close and we have to take that last step.''
Added Rooney, "We're in a position we can do this now ... In our business, the bottom line is, did you win a championship? So that's still the way you measure your success by."
Jerome Bettis hasn't said it, but he must be thinking, "And I came back for this?''
What he did say after Sunday's loss was that there are no guarantees.
"You understand that," Bettis said. "You take the good with the bad, the bitter with the sweet."
No players waved a white flag of surrender in their locker room despite looking down the long odds of salvaging something out of the season.
"You put yourself in this position," Bettis said. "But you still have an opportunity. We may have to go on the road, but that's never been a problem for us. You have to deal with it and go forward."
The Steelers are not eliminated from the AFC North division title race yet. That would happen if they lose to Chicago at Heinz Field Sunday and the Bengals beat Cleveland at home.
Things could get complicated in the playoff race over the next month if the Steelers continue to win. At the moment, they are behind Jacksonville (9-3), and San Diego and Kansas City, both with 8-4 records. They almost must hope Jacksonville keeps winning and somehow they wind up ahead of the Chiefs and at least tied with San Diego.
First Published December 6, 2005 12:00 am
