One of the biggest myths from the annals of Steelers history that is popular among fans and the media and even some Steeler fans is the idea that the Steelers only won the 2005 wildcard game because Carson Palmer was injured. There are even people who actually believe the Bengals would have had a deep postseason run with a healthy Palmer. This is entirely untrue and will be explored below for the top 5 reasons

5. Bengals Defense: Everyone wants to talk about the Carson Palmer injury. No one however wants to talk about how the Bengals defense surrendered 31 points during the game. In fact they reached that total early in the 4th before coasting. The Bengals defense overall was bad in 2005 and got worse late in the year. In the last 7 regular season games and the wildcard game, the Bengals surrendered an average of over 30 points per game. Defenses like that don’t make it far in the postseason. Last I check, Palmer didn’t play defense

4. Steelers Defense: Now that we have established the Bengals defense surrendred 31 points, Carson Palmer and the Bengals offense would have had to score at least 32 in the Steelers defense. Why so little faith in the defense. In the playoffs, they didn’t give up more than 18 points and going up against the top 2 scoring offenses, they surrendered an average of 14 points per game. But somehow the Bengals offense would have scored 32? Nope not seeing it

3. Carson Palmer’s playoff history: The idea that Carson Palmer’s injury effected the game also assumes that Carson Palmer is this all-time great postseason QB who delivers in the clutch. He isn’t. Let’s not confuse him with Tom Brady or Joe Montana. Palmer’s playoff record in games he did play is 1-2, his TD:INT ratio is 5:7, his completion percentage is under 60%, and his passer rating is 66.9. In his lone career postseason win in the 2015 divisional round game against the Packers, he almost lost that game with a critical redzone INT and later a critical incompletion that saved the Packers 40 seconds (they tied the game on the last play). But somehow Carson Palmer would have put 32 on the Steelers defense

2. Marvin Lewis: When people say the Bengals would have won this game with Palmer, I think people tend to forget that Marvin Lewis was the head coach. Marvin Lewis who is 0-7 in his career. Marvin Lewis who historically had been owned by the Steelers. Marvin Lewis who never could keep control of his team. Marvin Lewis who consistently lost control of his team. Marvin Lewis who perpetually came up small in big games. The Bengals had a 17-7 lead but surrendered 24 points after committing numerous mistakes in typical Marvin Lewis. I don’t know why people think a Marvin Lewis coached team would have won this game

1. A special Steelers team: This was a steelers team on a mission. They were a determined group playing for Jerome Bettis so he could play a Super Bowl in his hometown. This team fought the odds. They needed to win their last 4 regular season games and they did. They won 3 road playoff games then the Super Bowl (1st team to do so). They became the first 6th seed to topple a 1 seed and they became the first and remain today the only road team to win an AFC Championship game in Denver. In the Super Bowl they held the no. 1 scoring offense led by the NFL MVP to 10 points. Despite overcoming the odds to win the Super Bowl and retire the Bus as a champion, I am supposed to believe that this team was going to lose a playoff game to a Bengals team with playoff choker Marvin Lewis as head coach, playoff choker Carson Palmer at QB, and a terrible Bengals defense?