There will be plenty of time for doom and gloom, for harsh judgement and dire predictions.
In fact, I’ll get to that in about 10 seconds.
But can we at least take a moment and commemorate what might have been the wildest win of the Mike Tomlin era?
If the category is Tomlin's craziest regular season wins, I think of Antonio Brown’s Immaculate Extension against Baltimore (plus a few more wins against the Ravens), Le’Veon Bell’s last-play touchdown at San Diego, Mike Wallace’s last-play touchdown against Green Bay, beating the Browns without a kicker and beating the Bills after Stevie Johnson dropped a touchdown pass in overtime and blamed God.
In case you’d forgotten, Johnson’s postgame tweet went like this: "I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO.”
This 23-20 overtime win wasn’t just insane. It was highly unlikely. Not many gave the Steelers much of a chance. By the end, there was no T.J. Watt or Najee Harris. You had players from both teams dropping like Joe Burrow on one of the Steelers’ seven sacks.
You also had a backup long snapper fiasco (“Laces out, Dan!”), a Superman performance from Minkah Fitzpatrick, a last-second extra-point block, a missed 29-yard field goal in overtime, another overtime field goal attempt that bounced off an upright, and finally a last-play kick from Chris Boswell to win it.
You had a little bit of everything, ending with whoops and hollers emanating from every street in Pittsburgh, including the one I live on. This is why we watch the NFL, right?
Well, this plus fantasy teams and gambling.
Let’s get to the gloom and doom ...
— I thought the idea behind bringing Mitch Trubisky to Pittsburgh was to try to unearth the talent that made him the second overall pick. Instead, he played the game in handcuffs. The only idea seemed to be, “Don’t screw it up.”
I guess you could say it worked. The Steelers won. But it took a Bengals backup long snapper screwing up twice and assorted other miracles to make it happen.
Let’s be honest here: If that’s going to be the game plan — obsessively cautious with most throws to the sidelines — then the Steelers might as well have brought back Ben Roethlisberger or might as well go to Kenny Pickett.
Credit to Trubisky for making a few plays in overtime, but his best play was born of the Bengals jumping offsides. At some point, someday, the Steelers are going to need an adult passing game that includes the middle of the field. Feels like years since we’ve seen that (I guess because it has been).
I liked the idea of signing Trubisky, but that was a hugely underwhelming debut. There was supposed to be at least a little bit of a wow factor with him. Something. Anything.
Did you see a moment like that?
The risk in letting Trubisky actually play, obviously, is that mistakes might follow. But especially now with Watt looking like he’s out long-term and Najee Harris clearly hurting, the Steelers are going to need a quarterback who can make plays, and that starts with giving him the chance.
— How about the Jay Glazer report that Tomlin wants to sit Pickett for the whole year and would go to Mason Rudolph if Trubisky sustains a longer-term injury?
Glazer is close with Tomlin, so I tend to believe the report. But the rationale here seems twisted. Pickett might be your best quarterback. He’s definitely your second-best quarterback. Why in the world would you go to Rudolph when by your actions you have let the entire planet know how little you think of him? It’s nuts.
Also, are we sure Pickett shouldn’t be playing whether Trubisky is healthy or not?
Burrow played right away. Mac Jones played right away and made the playoffs. Dak Prescott was a fourth-round pick who started 16 games his rookie year and won 13. I could go on here. It’s not an irrational thought to play a rookie, especially a 24-year-old one who played 17 seasons of college football.
— Not a banner day for Bengals coach Zac Taylor.
First, Taylor failed to throw his challenge flag when it appeared Ja’Marr Chase scored with a little more than two minutes left in regulation. As CBS officiating analyst Gene Steratore put it, “I’m surprised Cincinnati didn’t challenge. It would have been a touchdown.”
Taylor got lucky that the Steelers attempted a pass on their ensuing possession and left his team with one last timeout. He outdid himself late in overtime when he did not order punter Kevin Huber to run the play clock down as he was kicking from midfield. Huber kicked with 15 seconds left on the play clock — precious seconds the Steelers needed on their game-winning drive.
— The best quote I heard was Pat Freiermuth telling Richie Walsh this about the Minkah pick-six: “Cincinnati disrespects us. ... That kind of showed it’s not going to be an easy game for them.”
— The Steelers might owe a thank you to the old Raiders. It was the their famous “Holy Roller” play back in 1978 that led to the current NFL rule that only the offensive player who fumbles can advance a fumble in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime.
I mention this because Samaje Perine picked up Burrow’s fumble in overtime and advanced it into field goal range (and yes, I know, the Bengals’ backup long snapper made James Harrison’s work against the Giants all those years ago look solid). It was put back to the 50 because of the Holy Roller rule, and when you really think about it, that’s a stupid rule — an overreaction to a phenomenal play.
If you want to intentionally fumble on the hope that a bunch of teammates bat it forward to the end zone and fall on it, more power to you. Give it a shot!
— What a huge sack there by Arthur Maulet, by the way. Maulet has a little Mike Hilton in him, with a knack for getting to the quarterback even though he isn’t very big.
— I know the temptation will be to say the season’s over because of Watt’s injury (if indeed it’s a torn pec). I’m inclined to agree with the sentiment, too, but it might be wise to hold off until we see what becomes of Alex Highsmith’s monster start.
This guy went off with nine tackles, three sacks and four quarterback hits. I realize it will be very different when teams can focus largely on Highsmith, but Malik Reed was a smart signing, and make no mistake, Highsmith has star capabilities.
If he’s ready to bust out, the season might not be over after all.
