MIAMI – The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 30-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins was bittersweet. The win secured a winning
season but leaves questions.
What happened to the defending Super Bowl champs?
Coach Mike Tomlin’s defensive group has lost their edge. The loss of Troy Polamalu was huge this season. The defense looked lost at times without the Pro Bowl defensive back but every team deals with injuries and teams exposed other holes in their defense.
A defense known in past seasons for shutting down teams was shaky again on Sunday in Miami. Prior to this week, the Steelers defense blew fourth quarter leads in 5 of 7 losses with all those losses being by seven points or less, that is a huge stat.
Ben Roethlisberger has proven he can win with his arm like he did in the dramatic win in the final seconds against Green Bay but he was only in that position after his defense blew a 22-point lead in the 2nd half of that game.
The Steelers self-imploded mid-season, becoming the first Super Bowl champions to ever go on a five-game losing streak the year after winning the title. Three of those losses were against Cleveland, Oakland and Kansas City, teams with losing records.
On Sunday, the Steelers’ opening drive of 12 plays ate 6:58 off the clock and the second drive (6 plays 67 yards) led to another score making the Steelers faithful hope for a dominating win. Ben looked poised and confident with two plays of 20+ yards. There was even a Willie Parker sighting mid 2nd quarter.
The defense was stepping up and making plays early in the game but in the fourth quarter, they again squandered a lead, allowing the Dolphins to score two TDs and make it a three-point game.
Jeff Reed later added another field goal for a 6-point Steelers win but again, the absence of the killer instinct of the defense leaves many questions.
As all this was happening in South Florida, the Houston Texans came back to defeat New England in their game, creating a scenario that needed three teams to lose in the afternoon games for the Steelers to back into the playoffs.
It didn’t happen and now the Steelers faithful can put away the yellow towels and hope for better year in 2010, looking ahead to the NFL Draft day and September camp.
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