The Wildcard Weekend is about to begin in the NFL playoffs and everyone around here is wondering who the Steelers will face next Saturday at Heinz Field in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.
If the Colts defeat the Jets tomorrow night, Peyton Manning and his crew will be coming to town. If the overrated Jets with their loud-mouthed coach go into Indy and mildly upset the Colts, then the winner of the Chiefs/Ravens Sunday afternoon wildcard game will be taking on the Steelers.
I have my preferences. I'd like to see the Jets defeat the Colts and the Chiefs take out the Ravens because I think that would be Pittsburgh's best shot at getting to the AFC title game in two weeks. This isn't to say that the Steelers couldn't defeat the Colts or Ravens, I just like the path of least resistance when it comes to the playoffs. I know some people are adrenaline junkies who always want the epic match ups, but there aren't extra points awarded for who your team defeats along the way to a championship.
Yes, maybe 20 years from now, NFL Films will do a "Greatest Teams of the First Three Decades of the New Millennium" list and the fact that Pittsburgh never had to go through the Patriots along the way to their 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th (one can hope) Super Bowl titles might sway some opinions that the Patriots had the stronger legacy.
But I'm not worried about legacies twenty years from now. I'm worried about Super Bowl titles right now, damn it! And in my opinion, the Chiefs coming to Heinz Field next week at 4:30 would be the most beneficial thing for Steeler Nation.........................Or would it?
I can think of a few occasions when I sat and rooted for one team to win a playoff game because that's who I wanted the Steelers to play the following week. And the following week I was totally blindsided by Pittsburgh's opponent.
The first one that comes to mind was a divisional playoff game between the Chargers and Dolphins in the 1994 AFC playoffs. This game was played the day after the Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns, 29-9, to advance to the AFC Championship game for the first time in 10 seasons.
The Steelers were the number 1 seed that year so no matter who won the game between San Diego and Miami, they would have to come to Three Rivers Stadium for the right to go to the Super Bowl.
The Chargers defeated the Dolphins in an exciting game and my uncle and I, and just about everyone else I could think of, were ecstatic. You see, the Dolphins had Marino, you know, the PITT legend that the Steelers passed on in the '83 draft, and he was still searching for that elusive championship ring. Everyone feared that he would come to Three Rivers Stadium and pass all over Blitzburgh and go on to finally win his trophy.
San Diego wasn't given a chance by hardly anyone in this game. They were the number two seed in the AFC, but they clinched their seed in the last regular season game against the Steelers, ironically enough, who had already wrapped up homefield advantage and had nothing to play for. Cowher rested most of his starters and the Steelers still took San Diego down to the wire on the road in a game the Chargers absolutely had to win. How could they possibly come into Three Rivers stadium and upset the Steelers with their full starting roster?
The city of San Diego wasn't even optimistic. And we all know about that Super Bowl Rap video that the Steelers did the week leading up to the game.
It was going to be a glorious day for the Steelers. Well, we were all taught a very valuable lesson that day.
San Diego went on to face the 49ers in the Super Bowl and the Steelers had to wait another year.
Another one that comes to mind was in the 1997 playoffs. The Steelers were the number 2 seed and outlasted the Patriots, 7-6, in a divisional playoff game and if the Broncos could go into Arrowhead stadium and defeat the Chiefs, who had homefield advantage, the Steelers would host the AFC title game for the 3rd time in 4 seasons. The Broncos, a wildcard team that year, did indeed knock off the Chiefs and the Steelers were sitting pretty. At least I thought so.
The Broncos could never get over the championship hump. Elway was 37 years old and he had already been to the Super bowl three other times and failed miserably. The Steelers were going to their 2nd Super Bowl in 3 seasons, right? Wrong! The Broncos came into Three Rivers and gave Pittsburgh another heartbreaking AFC championship home loss and went onto win their first Super Bowl.
And that brings me to the 2001 AFC Playoffs. The "tuck rule" divisional playoff game between the Patriots and Raiders. My other uncle and I were rooting hard for the Patriots in that game. I know that's hard for anyone to imagine now, but this was before Belichick was a genius. At that point, he was the mediocre coach who was sent packing from Cleveland. Tom Brady was just the surprising 6th round draft pick who had replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe earlier in the year. Nobody knew he would someday become the "model-marrying, best damn-quarterback in the universe!" The Steelers had homefield advantage and hadn't even played their divisional playoff game against the Ravens yet. That would be Sunday, but my uncle and I were both pretty happy and relieved that Saturday evening when the Patriots came back to knock off the Raiders in overtime thanks to that controversial call that overturned a fumble. We didn't want any parts of Oakland. I mean, these were the Raiders! All the history. All those tough AFC championship games in the 70's. Well, now that they were out of the way, the Steelers could concentrate on taking care of their bitter division rivals.
They did, outclassing the defending Super Bowl champions, 27-10.
Now it was onto the AFC Championship game against those upstart New England Patriots. Pittsburgh was a double-digit favorite for this game, and just like with the Chargers, nobody gave the Patriots a chance. The Steelers were going to go on and face the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl.
Kordell Stewart was going to become a star. Bill Cowher would get another shot at a ring. It was going to be great.....that is until the game started.
Little did we know that when that referee overturned that fumble the previous week, he unleashed a Hell that has been with us for almost a decade now. The New England Patriots came into Heinz Field and took care of the Steelers pretty easily. Once again, the city of Pittsburgh had to suffer through another home loss in the AFC Championship game. That elusive trip to the Super Bowl slipped through their grasps, yet again. New England went on to claim their first of three Super Bowl crowns.
So, even if the perfect scenario presents itself to us after this weekend's playoff match ups, don't assume that it will be a piece of cake and Pittsburgh will have earned another bye into the next round.
But on the flip side, even if the worst possible opponent punches a ticket to Heinz Field this weekend, it won't necessarily spell gloom and doom.
Back to that '94 season. The Browns were the 4th seed in the AFC, but they were considered by most to be the 2nd best team in the conference. They just had the misfortune of being in the same division as Pittsburgh. The Steelers swept the Browns that year in the regular season, but both games were pretty tight. Many predicted a Browns' victory if they were to meet the Steelers for a third time. You know, the whole, "it's tough to beat a team three times in one season" theory. Anyway, I wanted the Patriots to upset the Browns in the Wildcard game, but it didn't happen. Cleveland was coming to town for the most anticipated and hyped playoff game since the 70's.
I think I heard "It's hard to defeat a team three times in one season" 1000 times that week. Well, not only did Pittsburgh win for a third time, but they did so going away.
In 2001, the Ravens were the defending Super Bowl Champions, but they were a wildcard and Pittsburgh was the number 1 seed in the AFC. A Ravens' victory over the Dolphins would earn them a trip to Heinz Field. The Ravens won pretty easily in Miami and the World Champs had their "swagger" back.
That's all I heard all week was how the Ravens recaptured their "swagger" and were going to swagger all the way to another Super Bowl trophy. Well, nobody told them that you need some offense to go along with that defensive swagger, and as I said above, the Steelers won by three scores.
Even two years ago, I secretly rooted for the number 1 seeded Titans to defeat the wildcard Ravens because I didn't want to face the possibility of Baltimore coming to Heinz Field for the right to go to the Super Bowl and upsetting the Steelers. I know that's crazy, but I just couldn't handle that. In my head, I thought it would be "less hazardous" to have to go on the road for the AFC championship game than to face the possibilities of Ray Lewis "swaggin'" on his way out of Heinz Field with the AFC crown.
The Ravens upset the Titans and were coming to Pittsburgh with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Just like with the Browns in '94, the Steelers defeated the Ravens twice in '08, but they were both really close games, and that whole "hard to beat a team three times in one season" phrase was thrown around ad nauseum leading up to the showdown.
But, as it turned out, the game was the easiest of the three and the Steelers went on to capture another Super Bowl title.
So it does work both ways.
Anyway, no matter what happens this weekend, there will be a playoff team coming to Heinz Field next Saturday and there might not be a "best case" or "worst case" playoff scenario. It's probably just in our heads.
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