The Steelers, and their loyal Nation, are disappointed today to say the least. Take away a turnover or two in the Super Bowl and we would be celebrating Lombardi Trophy #7. But things like that happen to all teams, good and bad, and it is what it is. It doesn’t take anything away from the season as a whole and the Steelers accomplishments. How many people picked the Steelers to even get to the playoffs when Ben was suspended for the first 4 games of the season? Not many.  How about when it looked like we were thin at receiver after trading Santonio? Way to step up Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown. How about losing not one, but two, starting tackles from the offensive line? Max Starks and Willie Colon. A patchwork line performed a juggling act all year and still found a way to get it done. Grit and determination. Someone step up and get it done. Thats the Steelers way. Blue collar.

Is the only measure of a great season winning the Super Bowl? It depends on your perspective. As Steelers fans, we hold our team to the highest standard. They have trained us, and spoiled us, that way. When you have been to 7 Super Bowls and won 6, the Steelers Nation expects only the best.

We love our bragging rights. But look from the perspective of the lower echelon: four teams have never even been to the Super Bowl. Clevelend, Jacksonville, Houston, and Detroit. Never. Zero. Zilch. They have never spent the 2 weeks between the Championship game and the Super Bowl watching the talking heads on TV analyzing their team. They have never gone shopping after the big game to buy new “5 Time Champs”, or “one for the thumb” leather jackets and t-shirts, only to find them obsolete after 3 years. They have never experienced a season with more than 16 or 17 games.  By mid-January, they are analyzing the top picks in the draft and hoping for a miracle.  I have experienced this eight times in my life and I am more thankful for each one.  Unless you are too young to read this, you have experienced this 3 times now.  How great is that??!

I don’t know how you feel about the loss, but for me, I’m glad I got to see a few more games, a few more big plays, a few more tense 4th quaters, a few more chances to question the play calling, and a chance to party with some good citizens of the Steelers Nation. It was a great, fun season! Hats off to the Packers. They have a good group of players and a good, loyal group of fans.  Thanks God it wasn’t the Cowboys…

This entry was posted on Monday, February 7th, 2011 at 12:12 pm and is filed under 2010 Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.