This was the weekend the Steelers managed to jump out to a 13-0 lead at Indianapolis, only to surrender 30 unanswered points in absorbing yet another loss. At least this time it was to a team with a winning record.
Shortly after the Steelers had succumbed Saturday, the Penguins lost by a touchdown and PAT to Toronto, which is saying something considering the sport was hockey. It was the worst shutout loss for the Penguins since Sidney Crosby first pulled on the team sweater.
In the wake of yet another lost weekend for fans of pro sports in the ‘Burgh, we are left consider the historically unfamiliar state of affairs.
If the postseason began tomorrow in the NFL and NHL, it would begin without the Steelers or Penguins.
Of course, we almost always can count on the Pirates to miss the postseason. But the Steelers, who missed last season, as did the Penguins, are relative strangers to sustained postseason absences.
If both the Steelers and Penguins miss the postseason again this season, as presumably the Pirates will do once again in 2024, it would be historic hat track of shared futility among Pittsburgh pro franchises in terms of back-to-back seasons outside looking in to the playoffs.
All three franchises simultaneously missing the postseason for consecutive seasons had not happened since 1987 and 1988.
Let that sink in for a moment, For all the ongoing futility of the Pirates, and the periodic failures of the Steelers or Penguins, it’s been more than three decades since fans of Pittsburgh pro sports franchises have had to endure all three mired in back-to-back seasons outside the postseason.
At this point, the Steelers are a mere 7-7, among a gaggle of teams competing for an AFC wild-card spot. But that 7-7 record has been achieved with three consecutive losses and the Steelers clearly are a team on the decline.
Remaining games have the Steelers hosting a resurgent Cincinnati team, then making trips to Seattle and Baltimore. If the Steelers were a stock, you’d be selling.
The Penguins are another .500 team (13-13-3) but only a tad over one-third of the way through their season. They are tied for the third worst record in the Eastern Conference and have displayed both shaky goal tending and a very uncharacteristically unproductive power play.
There still is time for the Penguins to get it together – arguably for the Steelers, too.
But with each loss that time ticks away.
Sam Ross Jr's site 