I remember back in 2010, DeSean Jackson was with the Eagles, and he had that miracle punt-return against the Giants. If the Giants had won, it would have knocked the Packers out of the playoffs. Instead, the Packers snuck into the playoffs.
Those silly Packers fans though... celebrating that Super Bowl as if it “counted”. Everyone knows that if a team “sneaks” into the playoffs (and/or doesn’t “dominate” in the regular season) then it doesn’t actually “count”. Yet, those Packers fans celebrate that Lombardi like it means something. tsk, tsk
The 68 Packers were 9-5. Everyone knew they were a declining team. But they did enough to qualify and once there they finished their dynastic run with their 5th title. No one ever tried to cheapen it.
By a similar token I truly believe if the Steelers had made it into the playoffs they would have had a great chance to make a run. Don't believe me? Look at how they played the Patriots and Saints in weeks 15-16 last year. They were the last team to beat the Patriots and they did so convincingly ( not to be confused with overwhelmingly) and they went into New Orleans and had the Saints on the mats.
Yeah I know they sucked against Cincy in the finale. But I attribute that to AB. Not his physical loss, though that was part of it, but more the taint he put on the team with his week long drama.
Anyway long story short it's really not about your record so much as it is how you're playing when you hit the post-season. Health, match-ups, it all factors in.
Give you one last thing so people can't claim I'm strictly being a homer. In 79 the single greatest thing that happened to the Steelers was the Oilers taking out the
Chargers in the divisional playoff game. Not only did it bring the AFC champ to Pgh ( Chargers were the 1 seed) it also saved the Steelers playing a team they didn't match up with well. We got destroyed by that Charger team in the regular season. That doesn't mean that would have been the case in the playoffs. But still was a team that would have been a nightmare matchup for that particular team.
"A man's got to know his limitations."
What is frustrating with the steelers is that they can give a fight against every team (like week 15 and 16) but they can also lose against everyone like against the Raiders in week 14 in a must win game.
It's always all or nothing with the steelers .... They never have middle ground
Don't ruin it for all the negative thinkers.
They need to be able to say that Tomlin and the Steelers always underachieve and don't deserve to make the playoffs if they don't win at least 11 games, and they want to be able to say the team always loses to inferior teams with worse records when they do make the playoffs.
Making the intellectual leap that getting hot at the right time just might mean a run in the playoffs doesn't compute to them.
Giving them hope or optimism isn't what they are looking for. It's just another reason for them to bitch.