I know not everyone will agree with me (namely my girlfriend) but I think the 2009 season for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the 2009-2010 season for the Pittsburgh Penguins had very similar qualities.
For starters, both franchises were coming off of championship seasons the prior year.
Secondly, there was just something off for both teams and you just didn't have that confidence in them as a fan that you did the previous year.
Hockey is a lot different than football in-that there are obviously way more games played. A hockey slump isn't going to necessarily kill a season. Even if a team suffers through a poor stretch of play, they can still tread water by accumulating points even after overtime losses.
And the Pens had far from a horrible year. They actually had a good season with 101 points and barely missed out on the number 2 seed in the East finishing second to the New Jersey Devils in the Atlantic division. Their record was even better than it was the year they won the Cup so how can I say that there was something missing or something off about last year?
The Penguins had a fantastic first half of the season, but for whatever reason, they weren't the same team after the Olympic break.
I'm no hockey aficionado and can't really analyze it the same way that I do football, so I have to rely on what I hear from others. Stan Savran, a respected sports personality if there ever was one, said that something just wasn't right with the Penguins during the second half. I made a mental note of that because he said pretty much the exact same thing regarding the Steelers, even after they started the year 6-2.
There really was something kind of off about the Steelers last year. They did have that 6-2 first half record, but their house seemed to be built on sand. They were outplayed in the first game against Tennessee and barely escaped with an overtime win. They all but gave away their next two games by blowing 4th quarter leads to the Bears and Bengals.
Pittsburgh had one of the best defenses in the history of the league in their Super Bowl season of '08 and here they were blowing leads late in games? It just didn't seem possible. Well, it was possible because of key injuries to guys like Troy Polomalu and Aaron Smith. I don't care how good a defensive mind Dick Lebeau has, you're not going to replace guys like that with just anyone.
They also lost cornerback Bryant Mcfadden via free agency and their William Gay experiment never worked out as the secondary was shredded the entire year.
The Steelers also lost linebacker Larry Foote after the '08 season and I don't think people realized just how steady a player he was. Not everyone can be an all-pro and there's something to be said for knowing your role and doing your job.
Even though the Penguins had a strong nucleus of talent last season, they, too, lost some key players when defensemen Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi signed elsewhere after the Penguins Stanley Cup victory.
As the Penguins realized, especially in the postseason, those guys weren't easily replaceable.
The Steelers just couldn't get out of their own way last season. It seemed like every time they had their opponents on the ropes, something happened that turned the game around.
Starting with that Cincy meltdown in week 3, the Steelers gave up a touchdown return in 8 straight games. And they came in all varieties: Punt returns, kick-off returns, pick-6's and fumble returns.
If they scored a big touchdown to take control of a game, they would turn around and give it right back. Even Jeff Reed, Mr. Clutch, missed two field goals in the 4th quarter against Chicago. Tight End Heath Miller, who is about as reliable as Walker, Texas Ranger, had a perfect pass clang off his chest and intercepted which helped lead to another heartbreaking loss in Kansas City. If ever there was a play that epitomized the entire 2009 season, it was that one.
The Penguins didn't have one single win against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference last season: The Washington Capitals and the New Jersey Devils. People brushed that off when the Caps and Devils were both upset in round one, but you can't just ignore stuff like that. A championship team finds a way to defeat quality opponents.
The Steelers lost 5-straight to start the second half of the season. Three of which were to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns; bottom-feeders in the NFL last year. And on the other end of the spectrum, championship teams do not lose games to teams like that.
And the Pens may have had a better record this season than last, but going into the postseason, it's all about momentum and as I said, they weren't the same team in the second half. They went 5-4-1 in the final weeks with the division title and number 2 seed well within their grasps.
And a popular phrase I kept hearing down the stretch regarding the Penguins was "flipping the switch." Well, that rarely works in professional sports. In postseason play, teams usually mimic what they did in the regular season. Especially down the stretch.
Take last year's Pens, for example. They were in 10th place and two spots out of the playoffs with 25 games left and went on a huge roll and finished the season with a bang. Clinching the 4th seed in the process. That's quite the impressive run and just what any team would love to be doing heading into the playoffs. It showed as they went on to capture their third Stanley Cup.
Remember the '05 Pittsburgh Steelers and their historic run to their 5th Lombardi Trophy? They were dead-to-rights with 4 games left. They had to win every one of those four games just to barely sneak into the playoffs as the sixth seed, but by then, they had so much momentum, they never looked back and rolled thru the postseason all the way to a championship.
Even if the Steelers somehow managed to make the playoffs in '09, they weren't going to do anything. They couldn't put teams away. They couldn't finish off drives. They couldn't get off the field on 3rd down. They blew 4th quarter lead, after 4th quarter lead. Do you think they would have suddenly "flipped the switch" and become the team they were the prior season? Doubtful.
The good news for both teams is I think they can get back on top soon. For the Penguins, the future looks really bright because of their core of great young talent. Crosby, Malkin, Fleury and Staal will probably be with them for a decade and as long as they have them, they will always have a chance. I know I said role players are hard to replace, but future hall-of-famers like Crosby are almost impossible to replace. Sid will hoist another Stanley Cup or two before he retires.
As for the Steelers, they're a little older than the Penguins and actually remind me a lot of the Steelers of the late 70's. There are some key younger guys, sure, but the core players of the previous decade are a lot closer to the end of their careers than the beginning.
However, really good personnel guys have a knack for turning over a roster pretty quickly so even if the Steelers have a down year or two, I have no doubt that they can rise again.
The Steelers of the late 90's had to rebuild after that very successful decade but they went on to have even more success in the following decade.
Besides, as long as they have number 7, they'll always have a chance.
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