Here, have a beer and lets hear what one of the Pittsburgh Steelers's most loyal fans has to say about his beloved.
1975: 9-1 through 10 games - Won Super Bowl
1978: 9-1 through 10 games - Won Super Bowl
2004: 9-1 through 10 games - Lost AFC Championship Game
2020: 10-0 through 10 games - ????
The Pittsburgh Steelers remain the only unbeaten NFL team, and they’ve been the only unbeaten NFL team for weeks now. I wrote this post this week because the Steelers play the Ravens on Thursday Night, so their undefeated season might not last the weekend.
Some of you might be reading this looking for some insightful reasons as to why the Steelers are the kings of the league through 11 weeks. You might be thinking I'm going to outline the X’s and O’s for why the Iron City team hasn’t wavered. Stop, turn back now. You might be thinking that the reasons for the Black and Gold’s success is due to their matchups and star players. You’d be way overthinking it. I mean, sure, I could go into how Big Ben has comeback player of the year written all over him, or how TJ Watt is playing at a defensive player of the year capacity, or how they have the offensive rookie of the year in Chase Claypool, but I don’t want to waste your time with that. I really don’t want to dig into the fact that they have the best WR and DL depth in the league. I don’t want to bore you with the fact that Mike Tomlin hasn’t ever had a losing season in his head coaching career, and has this team unified and unshakeable. Finally, I won’t even get started on how smothering those DB’s are, and how stable, reliable, and consistent James Conner is. While the players and coaches are an important reason for the team's success this season, the REAL reasons the "Stillers" remain unbeaten lies much, much further beneath the surface. I’m here to tell you those real reasons, and why you shouldn’t care.
Reason #1:
Most things that come first are usually the most important, not here. It’s 2020, the Steelers are undefeated, we have 2 different president-elects depending on who you ask, and masks on faces have become the “new normal”. So, Reason #1 is in fact the 3rd most important reason the Steelers are undefeated through 11 weeks. The Reason? My 1-year-old son has worn his Steelers jersey every week so far. Some of you might think, wow how have I read this far into this post about a team that I (likely) hate. Good question. Some of you might also be asking how does a 1-year-old wearing a football jersey have anything to do with that team's success? It doesn’t. I’m just stating the facts as I see them. My 1-year-old has only lived through 1.5 Steelers seasons so far. Last year, he didn’t wear his jersey every week and the steelers went 8-8. This year he’s worn it every week and they’re 10-0. You be the judge.
Reason #2:
One might expect that I go into some sort of explanation of how since it’s 2020 reason #2 is going to be the 1st most important reason, instead of the 2nd most important reason. That’s nonsense. Reason #2 is the 2nd most important reason the Steelers are undefeated. We’ve already established that reason #1 isn’t the most important reason, isn’t that confusion enough? We’re in unsettling times, we need some normalcy after all. Reason #2 is a compelling reason for the Steel City’s undefeated-ness. Here it is: The Steelers haven’t, and won’t, play the Chiefs this season. Can anyone stop them?
Reason #3:
The third, final, and after all, the most important reason. Troy Polamalu. What? Stay with me here. Troy Polamalu has been retired since 2015. Troy Polamalu, according to sources, (See minute 1:30-2:45 ish), has a direct line of communication with Jesus. Troy Polamalu was supposed to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer. COVID took that away. COVID ruined the one time we’d ever hear Troy speak for longer than 3 minutes. COVID ruined the one sliver of hope all Steelers fans had going into the 2020 season. "We" knew the Steelers were going to be .500 at best this year, but COVID changed the game. COVID took away Troy’s glory, and in the same moment, an entire fan base's excitement for the 1 thing the opposing teams couldn’t take away, Troy’s enshrinement. Troy is having his revenge. He’s leveraged his direct line to Jesus into a 10-0 start for the Steelers. In a year where PGH had, on paper, a .500 team. Questions on the DL. Questions about how the WR’s are too young and inexperienced. Questions about how Big Ben will bounce back. Questions on if the defense can be as dominant as they were in the 2019 season. Questions about if Mike Tomlin was going to remain the head coach for much longer. All roads before the season pointed to .500. Want more corroborating evidence that Troy Polamalu is the driving force behind this undefeated season? I (a Steelers fan) have ONLY wore my Polamalu jersey during the 2020 season. In years past, I might have mixed it up and dawned my 6 super bowl champs jersey, or my old bumblebee LeVeon Bell jersey. I didn’t mix it up this season. Troy was my jersey pick for the entire year. Why? Cause the man was going to be in the Hall of Fame.
I plead my case.
Now, why shouldn’t you care? Mainly because the Steelers operate in a unique world where the more people that care about their success, the worse they play. The more star players they have that get analysts and fan bases excited, the more disappointing they are as a team. You see, The Steel Curtain doesn’t like limelight. They thrive in the shadows, they dominate when people think they’re nobody. So please, pay no attention to the Steeler’s perfect season, it’ll only help their cause. Continue to not care about a team that you didn’t care about before reading this. Heck, continue to not care about a team that plays a sports in a league that you likely didn’t care about in the first place, even better. Because the more you don’t care, the better chances the Steelers have of keeping it up.
So here, have a beer, and raise it to the Steelers dominance. Or don’t - I don’t care.
And for the love of God can someone beat the Chiefs early in the playoffs please???
-Mike Matsko, writing on behalf of Steelers Nation, guest writing for Jacob Skorka.
P.S. Another (plausible) reason for the stellar Steelers season is the fact that I have finished my garage and have acquired, through various channels, a bar-top that was from my grandfather's garage. My grandfather, who’s from Pittsburgh, and worked for the steel mill and in the coal mines south of Pittsburgh. My grandfather, who was a season ticket holder in his heyday. Said bartop is now in my garage along with a ton of his old Steelers memorabilia. Like I said, it’s plausible that this is a reason for their success. I’ll keep my hand on the pulse on this one...
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