STEELERS WEEK 13: STARTING TO BELIEVE THE HYPE

I'll be the first to admit that I am not the easiest fan to win over. I haven’t LEGITIMATELY thought the Pittsburgh Steelers had a chance to win a Super Bowl since 2018. 

 

During that 2018 season the Steelers were 13-4 and lost to the Jaguars in the divisional round of the playoffs. They were one game away from the AFC championship against the Pats. 

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So it’s been 6 long years since I TRULY BELIEVED we were contenders. Even in 2020, when the team went 11-0, the only undefeated team in the league at the time, I still knew it my gut we weren’t contenders. 

We ended up losing to the Baker lead Browns in the first round that year. Yes that one still hurts. 

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Going into this season I thought we would win 9 games. I thought we would keep Tomlins streak alive but be lucky to make the last wild card spot for the AFC.  I also didn’t think Russell Wilson would work out and Justin would be our starting QB by the end of the year. 

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On the contrary, things went the complete opposite way...

 

Justin started off as our Quarterback this year, due to injury. Despite having a winning record as the starter, something wasn’t clicking….it was the same old Steelers, good defense but bad offense. 

 

So Tomlin took the risk and benched Justin despite having a winning record as the starter. He put in Russ and it was 10000 percent the right decision. 

 

Russ didn’t work in Denver because no one ever believed in him. Sean Payton didn’t like Russ and made it no secret. Wilson felt the pressure and distain from everyone and that organization. He needed a coach like Mike who legitimately believed in him and would give him reassurance. Tomlin also needed Russ, he’s been trying to find “the guy” since Big Ben retired.

 

Kenny Pickett didn’t have that dog in him that Mike wanted.  Justin had the talent but didn’t have the ability to be the next guy. Enter Russel Wilson, a guy who has that dog in him and has the ability to make the big play. 

 

So this brings us up to the game with Cincinnati, another division rival. Games in the AFC North are always insane.Just because a team has a losing record doesn’t mean anything, the games are always close. Plus the Bengals have showed all year they have an incredible offense, their defense is just awful. 

 

So Pittsburgh would need to score at least 30 points to beat this team. It just so turns out that Pittsburgh could do better than that, scoring 44 points to be exact. This is the most points this team has scored in recent memory. Russ had 414 yards and 3 touchdowns. 

 

This performance from the team made me finally believe we could beat anyone in the league. 

 

The one thing that held me back from thinking we could beat a Buffalo or a KC was that we couldn’t score a lot of points. Well Russ and this offense are finally firing on all cylinders. 

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I’m not saying that the Pittsburgh Steelers are Super Bowl favorites. But contenders ? It's safe to say. 

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Up next is a rematch with the Browns, a team that just beat us two weeks ago in a trap game. 

 

This is a very important game to get our win back and keep the lead in the AFC North.