Steelers stay in Baltimore, forget game against Chargers, lose 34-24 at home

After the dramatic win against the Ravens last week, the Steelers apparently forgot that there was a game to play this week.  As a result, what should have been a satisfying win against a 4-8 team that had never before won a regular season game in Pittsburgh, instead became the most disappointing loss this year -- 34-24 at home to the San Diego Chargers.

"We're playing TODAY?!"

But this year has been like that--after a come-from-behind win over the Super Bowl Champion Giants in New York, the Steelers lost Ben Roethlisberger for three weeks to an injury.  After an embarrassing loss to the Brownie Elves, the Steelers stunned the division leading Ravens in Baltimore behind their third-string quarterback.  And after that stunning victory--now this.

Yet somehow, despite the epic disappointment, the Steelers have yet to go off the cliff.  With the Ravens overtime loss to Washington, and the Bungles last second defeat at home to Dallas, the AFC North Division standings and the Steelers playoff positioning is unchanged from last week.

Baltimore (9-4) still has a two-game lead for the North Division over Pittsburgh (7-6) and Cincinnati (7-6); and the Steelers still have a tie-breaker over the Bungles for the last Wild Card spot in the AFC by virtue of Pittsburgh's 24-17 win in Cincinnati back in October.  Moreover, the Steelers still have a more favorable remaining schedule compared to the Bungles.

The Steelers travel to Dallas (7-6) next week and concludes the season at home against Cincinnati (7-6) and the Brownie Elves (5-8).  Meanwhile, the Bengals have to play road games against the Eagles and Steelers before finishing up at home against the Ravens.  The December 23rd contest in Pittsburgh between the Steelers and Bengals will be pivotal.  Another complication is that the Steelers seem to play their worst against bad teams this year, and their best against the good ones.  Pittsburgh could quite conceivably get a surprise win in Dallas and then come home and lay eggs to the Bungles and Brownie Elves--especially if today's debacle is any reliable indicator.

The Steelers offense was non-existent in first half and trailed 13-3 at half-time only after Shaun Suisham nailed a 49-yarder right before intermission. 

The Chargers opened the second half with a commanding 17 play 78-yard drive that took 10 minutes off the clock and culminated in a touchdown for a 20-3 lead.

And then, disaster struck.  After a holding penalty (against the Steelers of course) on the ensuing kickoff backed Pittsburgh up against its own goal line, the Steelers decided to fart the fuck around with a fuck-ass bubble screen rather than calling an offensive play--and the consequences were appropriately severe.  The FORWARD pass from Roethlisberger was deflected off the helmet of another Steeler player and hit the ground before it reached its intended target, Antonio Brown, who only made a nonchalant attempt attempt to fall on the ball as a Charger defender alertly recognized that the NFL's official fuck-the-Steelers rulebook was in effect and fell on the ball for a San Diego touchdown: 27-3 Chargers.

The Steeler Face has two points to emphasize about this play: (1) There is no use crying about the officiating.  Steeler-hating-officiating will never change; and the NFL's new "air fumble" rule was already employed earlier this year.  As the Face has stated on this blog before -- the Steelers offensive players need to be coached that whenever there is an incomplete forward pass--FALL ON THE BALL--because if an opposing player can fall on it, or return it for a touchdown, it will be considered an "air fumble" by the officials.  (2) Fuck this fucking-fuck-ass bubble screen play call.  It is high-risk and low reward; and why the fuck would you call this shit near the goal line (in the NFL's new climate of air-fumble-fuck-the-Steelers no less), down by 17 fucking points in the second fucking half?!  What is the steelers infatuation with this play?  Either call an offensive play or punt!

The coaching woes persisted in the second half.  Big Ben brought the Steelers back with a 40-yard touchdown to Mike Wallace to cut the deficit to 27-10, and another 11-yard touchdown strike to Wallace with 6 minutes to go to make it it 34-16.  If the Steelers go for the two-point conversion and get it, then Pittsburgh is down by two touchdowns with 6 minutes remaining in the game.  A come back is still conceivable.  But, inexplicably, the Steelers kick it and then kick off (rather than going for the on-sides kick).

Big Ben led the Steelers down for another TD (a 1-yard pass to Antonio Brown) to make it 34-24 with 1 minute remaining.  Again, if the Steelers had gone for the 2-point conversions, they would only be down a touchdown--and a comeback would still be conceivable.  To add insult to stupidity, the Steelers then kicked off (again), rather than attempting an on-sides kick.  Did Coach Tomlin not want to win this game, or at least try?

After a sluggish start, Big Ben looked better in the second half and finished the game completing 22 of 42 attempts for 285 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.  Roethlsiberger also carried the ball 5 times for another 31 yards.  After an early drop, Mike Wallace finished with 7 receptions for 112 yards and 2 TDs.