Pittsburgh Purgatory, My Personal Hell

The holiday season is in full swing, so allow me to begin this blog with a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all, especially those of you taking the time to read anything on BarstoolBreakdown.com. Clearly this blog fell into the state of purgatory mentioned above, time to address my misery.

This is the time of year to enjoy the company of your loved ones and build memories that last a lifetime. With the days of the new year approaching, I find myself reflecting on the year that's passed and recent memories resonate most. Unfortunately, I'm not referring to my favorite gifts or dominating the family in phase ten. Weighing heaviest on my dumb brain is the collapse of the Steelers and the state of purgatory in Pittsburgh that has to come to an end.

"You're spoiled!" "Imagine complaining about the playoffs." "You haven't had a losing record in 15 years."

All of the above will be said since I'm bitching about a team that hasn't had a losing record for the majority of my life and all of the above are acceptable responses from fanbases that haven't seen post-season success. The difference with the Steelers is that their success is measured in Super Bowls not just getting an extra game in January. Allow me to lay out a timeline of the torture we fans have endured.

2010 Season Result: 12-4, 1st in the AFC North, Lost Superbowl XLV 31-25 to the Green Bay Packers

Two years removed from the greatest catch ever made (SanAntonio Holmes against the Cardinals) the Tomlin-led Steelers faced the bad man Aaron Rodgers in Super Bowl 45 and marked the beginning of the end.

This Steelers team was classic Steel Curtain and was probably the last time people could claim that Tomlin made it with "Cowhers team". They went into 45 with a defense that averaged 14.5 points per game to opponents. However, Aaron Rodgers was still only mad at his family and Danica Patrick and wasn't on ayahuasca for this one. Rodgers diced up the Steelers' secondary for 304 yards and 3 Touchdowns and sent the Steelers packing.

It's been 14 years and the Steelers haven't been back to the big game. I fucking hate Aaron Rodgers.

2011 Season Result: 12-4, 2nd in the AFC North, Lost in Wild Card 29-23 to the Denver Broncos.

Following heartbreak in the Super Bowl, the Steelers finished second in the AFC North behind another impressive defense that gave up 14.2 points per game to opponents. They went into the Wild card as heavy favorites against a Tim Tebow-led Broncos squad and the Steelers had to crawl back after giving up 20 unanswered in the second quarter only to have their hearts ripped out on a slant to Demaryius Thomas (RIP). Tomlin, a defensive coach, gave up 29 to Tim fucking Tebow.

2012 Season Result: 8-8, 3rd in the AFC North

2013 Season Result: 8-8, 2nd in the AFC North

The beginning of rebuilding the team under Tomlin's vision resulted in mediocrity at its finest. Faltering both years to snag the last spot in the playoffs and all-around average by every stat you can find. Tomlin gets praised for never having a losing season, but is finishing .500, missing the playoffs, and getting a shitty draft pick worth the praise? I think not.

2014 Season Result: 11-5, 1st in the AFC North, Lost in Wild Card 17-30 to the Baltimore Ravens

The Steelers shocked the AFC North and the rest of football in 2014 mainly due to the emergence of the triple B's. Le'veon Bell, Antonio Brown, and Big Ben took the NFL by storm and all posted career numbers. Bell rushed 1361 yards, caught 83 passes for 854 yards, and had 11 total touchdowns, Brown caught 129 passes for 1698 yards and 13 touchdowns and Big Ben threw for 4952 yards, 32 touchdowns, and only 9 interceptions. All of the success offensively led to the Steelers winning their last 4 games to pull the rug from the Ravens and steal the North. All for not unfortunately as the Steelers hosted Baltimore and took a beating yet again marking the 4th straight year that Pittsburgh wouldn't win a playoff game.

Steelers fans started to notice the demise on the defensive side of the ball and feared for wasting the offensive talent. They were right.

2015 Season Result: 10-6, 2nd in the AFC North, Lost in Divisional 16-23 to the Denver Broncos

In the 2015 season, we saw a resilient squad, with Bell injured for the majority of the year, claw their way into the Wild Card on the shoulders of Antonio Brown who posted 136 receptions for 1834 yards. Poor timing for the Steelers as Peyton Manning was fresh off his wife's HGH and sent the Steelers home. Truly, the Broncos won the turnover battle and the Steelers couldn't find the endzone enough in a defensive battle.

2016 Season Result: 11-5, 1st in the AFC North, Lost in Conference Championship 17-36 to the New England Patriots

Everything about this year felt like it was our year. Well, everything besides a guy named Tom Brady. The Steelers had the Killer B's rolling all season and even added a fourth named Boswell and went on to win 9 straight including post-season wins against the Dolphins and Chiefs before heading to Foxborough to face the Patriots.

The Tom Brady-led buzzsaw that was New England carved up the Steelers' secondary in a rout of a championship game. Former lacrosse star Chris Hogan scored twice and ran free for 180 yards while his fellow acceptation to the receiver rule, Julian Edelman, scored once and had 110 yards. Tomlin was out-coached and outclassed by the best to ever do it, nothing more to it.

2017 Season Result: 13-3, 1st in the AFC North, Lost in Divisional 42-45 to the Jacksonville Jaguars

I regret this blog decision because I forgot how much this one hurt. The Steelers were top 10 on both sides of the ball, had players at key positions in their prime, and had a revenge game against New England in their sites. So much so that they forgot to show up against Blake Bortles and fell behind 21-0 before you could blink. The game turned into a shootout as Big Ben battled back throwing 469 yards and 5 touchdowns but it was too late as the defense couldn't stop Blake Bortles and he stole the show at Heinz Field. No shot at redemption, just back to the couch.

2018 Season Result: 9-6-1, 2nd in the AFC North, missed playoffs.

Following the upset in the Divisional, the Steelers opened the 2018 season with a tie to the Browns as a statement of mediocrity to come. The defense saw serious regression dropping to 16th of 32 in the league and the Steelers wasted the 6th best offense in the league and yet another year of the Ben to Brown connection.

Tomlin once again gave us false hope this season posting a 7-2 record after the tie in the opener only to fall flat on our faces down the stretch. Sound familiar?

This year stings because I was in Heinz field after an ugly win against the Bengals, watching along with the team and the rest of Pittsburgh on the jumbotron as Baker Mayfield threw an interception sending the Ravens to the playoffs and the Steelers to their couches.

Winning record = good

Tying the browns for the season opener and finishing the season 2-4 = bad

2019 Season Result: 8-8, 2nd in the AFC North, missed playoffs.

Mediocre Mike goes 8-8 for the third time and misses the playoffs yet again. This season was a fucking roller coaster. 0-3 to start the year, 8-5 with 3 games left, and the 27th ranked offense in the NFL dropped 3 straight, posting 10 points in each contest, and went back home. I don't know what else to say, at least the defense turned it around that year thanks to TJ Watt and Cam Heyward who both received all-pro honors.

2020 Season Result: 12-4, 1st in the AFC North, Lost in the Wild Card 37-48 to the Cleveland Browns

The 2020 Steelers could be ranked as one of the biggest disappointments in franchise history. Flying out of the gates at a league-best 11-0, yinzers thought this would be Ben's last chance at a 3rd ring. They were right.

We knew 7 was regressing, but the defense was 3rd overall in the NFL and that's always been the formula for Pittsburgh. NFL fans were calling them frauds from 5-0 to 11-0 and once again, they were right. The Steelers floundered down the stretch going 1-4 but it was still enough to host a playoff game.

If I could choose a scenario built for the Steelers success, it'd be hosting the Browns in the playoffs. However, covid was going on and the stadium had no fans and on the first snap of the game, Pouncey sent the snap over Ben's head and into the endzone.

Steelers once again came out flat and fell behind 28-0 to THE FUCKING BROWNS. Ben went on to throw 500 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions to match but the effort was futile. That was the end of 7, truly. That was the end of our tiny contention window. That was the worst.

2021 Season Result: 9-7-1, 2nd in the AFC North, Lost in the Wild Card 21-42 to the Kansas City Chiefs

If there was ever a season I wish we could just opt out of the Playoffs it was 2021. The offense and the Defense were both in the bottom 3rd in the NFL and it took an overtime win against a Snoop Huntley-led Ravens team to even sneak in. The Steelers had a point differential of -55 and were by far the worst team to make the dance.

The only true highlight of this season was Najee Harris breaking away in Big Ben's last home game, securing a victory over the browns. Thank you 7.

2022 Season Result: 9-8, 3rd in the AFC North, missed playoffs

Kenny Pickett proved not to be the guy almost immediately as we finished 26th offensively.,10th defensively, and somehow Matt Canada kept his job.

2023 Season Result: 10-7, 3rd in the AFC North, Lost in the Wild Card 17-31 to the Buffalo Bills

Limped into the dance somehow behind the 28th ranked offense in the NFL. Yet again wasting a year of TJ and Cam who led the defense finishing 6th in the NFL overall. See ya Kenny and Canada.

2024 Season Result: 10-7, 2nd in the AFC North, set to face the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card

The 2024 has been a get your hopes up and crush them MASTERCLASS from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Picking up two veteran quarterbacks, adding necessary pieces to the defense, and finding some depth on a young offensive line. The Steelers started the season with Justin Fields and came out 4-2 with 2 under center.

Now Justin didn't wow us by any means but he showed the ability to push the ball down the field and escape the pocket when it breaks down, adding some versatility to a team that watched Mason Rudolph, Kenny Pickett, and Big Ben the last few years. Matter of fact, we Steeler fans were so okay with the prospect of being versatile that we were shocked when Tomlin turned to Russ after a 4-2 start.

Russ shut up the haters immediately or so it seemed. He led the Steelers on a 7-1 tear, with the one loss being in a blizzard in Cleveland, and had yinzers everywhere believing the offensive inefficiency had finally come to an end. Until the schedule got tougher. The Steelers were staring at 3 of the league's best teams in 11 days but vibes were still high. They remained high until Najee Harris dropped a pitch when the Steelers were going to tie it up against Philly and that seemed to break the offense. The Steelers dropped all 3 confirming once again, we're frauds.

To put a cherry on top I traveled to Pittsburgh to watch the Steelers face the Bengals in primetime to stop our losing streak only to have a depressing 3-and-a-half-hour drive home because the offense still can't find its way. If Pat catches that post and the Steelers steal that game from the Bengals it doesn't change the outlook of this season but it would give us that tiny bit of hope going into Baltimore.

Just a crushing finish to a season that seemed to be different. It will never be different under Tomlin, The Standard Is The Standard.

The Standard is mediocrity and a first-round exit. The Standard is having a staff that folds and flounders under pressure. The standard is running the ball nowhere with pitch plays. The standard is a diva receiver that flatlines by year 3 and gets shipped off. The Standard is wasting defensive talent and one of the best edge rushers the game has ever seen. Fuck the Standard.

I feel bad for Cam Heyward, TJ Watt, and Minkah Fitzpatrick. I feel bad for my fellow yinzers.

We're trapped in a purgatory hell fixed with doors that appear to be getting closer, but when it's time to exit, you look down and find you've been drowning in quicksand with every step, and then the door disappears.

It's past time for a change but that isn't the Steeler way. If we meet another first-round exit, for the sake of all Steeler fans, blow it all up.

Go Steelers, beat the Ravens. #HereWeGo