NFL Week 14: Jim Harbaugh's first number

Well, now we know what happens when the Bengals play a non-AFC West team.

 

Phil Simms criticizing Mike Tomlin for not going for two on the Steelers' second touchdown, and rightfully so. A two-point conversion would have pulled Pittsburgh within two scores at 34-18. Not that the Steelers really had much of a shot, but it was still a mistake.

So was going for it on fourth down in his own territory late in the first half, which led to a field goal for San Diego.

Plenty of blame to go around in Pittsburgh. And the really funny part is they didn't lose much with the Bengals losing to Dallas. The Steelers are still tied with the Bengals for the final AFC playoff spot and that is still very likely to come down to the game between those two teams in Pittsburgh in two weeks.

Of course, that's assuming the Steelers don't lose the other two (Dallas and Cleveland), which is a big assumption right now.

 

NFL coaches too smart for themselves.

Both the skins and eagles had do or die goal line plays with no timeouts, the defense does the other team a favor by calling time out.

Stupid.

 

Two of three is probably going to do it, especially if one of the two wins is against the Bengals. Everyone else in the AFC has at least seven losses already.

 

Vilma goes out in the 1st quarter. Which Giant just got a $500'bonus'?

 

14 possessions (against a couple of sub-.500 teams) since 49ers' last touchdown. Three field goals in that stretch. Harbaugh's "hot hand" theory is kind of biting him in the ass.

 

Given the Bengals' loss today, you have a point. It would pretty much have to include the game against the Bengals. The Steelers' only shot at the tiebreaker there is to sweep them head-to-head.

 

9-7 is looking awfully good to get you a chance to get thumped on the road in January.

 

I can see a scenario where not only do the Steelers make the playoffs, they have a week to rest everybody. As long as the Steelers don't lose ground to the Bengals in Week 15, they can clinch their playoff spot by winning the showdown in Week 16. And since they'd be locked into the #6 seed no matter what, they could let every injured player rest (provided they would still have enough non-injured players to put 22 on the field, anyway).

 

I think the bigger issue now is how the team is playing and the way the injuries have piled up. The Steelers have completely shit themselves two out of the last three weeks. They've turned in horrendous performances in losses to bad teams four times this year and damn near lost to Kansas City, too. I'm as big of a defender of Tomlin as anybody, but at some point the inconsistency has to make you look at the coach at least a little bit.

They had no excuses today. Roethlisberger did throw one ugly interception, but you can't blame that on the injury. He looked fine.

Sure, they were missing Ike Taylor at cornerback and the Chargers took full advantage by attacking his replacements all day, but that problem isn't going away any time soon. He will at least miss the game in Dallas next week and possibly Week 16 against the Bengals.

They had injuries up front, but again, those guys will also probably be out at least next week.

The comparisons to 2005 just don't hold up. Certainly not after today.

 

All that may be true, but they are still a good bet to make the playoffs -- I'd say there's a 90 percent chance the #6 seed goes to whoever wins that Week 16 game. The only other team that has a chance is the Jets at 6-7, but the Steelers have the tiebreaker over them.