What does it mean when your team isn’t even good enough to crack its way out of the first round of the postseason, and then you can’t even afford to keep that underperforming team together the following offseason? That’s where the Pittsburgh Steelers appear to find themselves after a 12-4 regular season that ended in a division title and an early ousting from the playoffs in the wildcard round.
Not only did the Steelers fail in the postseason, they actually lost four of their final games overall. They began the regular season by setting a franchise record with 11 consecutive wins to open a season, but would only win one more game after that, and even that took a 17-point second-half comeback, the first such comeback of Ben Roethlisberger’s career.