Pittsburgh Steelers Requiem: Good, not great year/give Fitzgerald a break

Photo creds to www.sacebbe.com

Another season done. It's that time of year again when for eight months, the terrible towels are put away. For 8 months, there will be no cussing at Mike Tomlin, no getting drunk at 10:00 A.M. on a Sunday afternoon (at least I hope not), and the bland yellow seats at Heinz Field will be emptier than they are when Pitt plays. Yes, until training camps starts up in Latrobe this July, there will be no form of Steeler football to speak of.

Although the Steelers could easily have pulled off the upset of the #1 seeded Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon, I am nonetheless proud of how they performed as a whole. Yes, it was a sloppy game by both teams, but at the end of the day, the Steelers had the #1 seed on the ropes in their stadium, and that is commendable especially considering the injuries that were plaguing the Black and Gold.

However, the way the Steelers failed to close the deal will be in plenty of nightmares of everyday citizens between now and September. Pittsburgh was up 13-12 and driving late in the 4th quarter, when Fitzgerald Toussaint, the emergency running back, made a poor fundamental play, got stripped by Denver defensive back Bobby Roby, and just like that it was Denver ball. The Broncos scored a touchdown, got the two-point conversion, and after the Steelers stalled on their next drive, won the game.

Photo creds to www.sportingnews.com

While Toussiant made an awful fundamental error, he is a reason the Steelers lost the game, not the reason. His fumble turned the tide in the game, but other mistakes were made, two of them on the ensuing possession after the fumble. The Steelers defense was able to force a 3rd and 12, but Brandon Boykin did an awful job of covering Bennie Fowler, and Fowler as a result of the soft coverage ran for 31 yards, triggering what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown. Also on that drive, William Gay dropped what should have been an interception. Throughout the game, receivers dropped some balls, and the defense missed tackles. Hell, if you want to pin it all on one play, why not go back to Aquib Talib holding Martavis Bryant in the end zone on 3rd and 5 from the Denver 10 yard line? That missed call turned 7 points into 3, which could have been a factor in the outcome.

I'm not trying to sound like a typical coach, but team sports are never about one guy. I know it's so easy for yinzers eating their Pramanti's sandwiches to scapegoat, but I'm not one of those people because I know how dumb scapegoating is, and I also think it is heartless. CBS was seemingly egging on the Toussaint pitchfork crowd by showing the poor guy sitting on the sideline every 5 seconds. He made a mistake. Others made mistakes as well. Leave Fitz alone.

Now that the 2015 Steelers are history, what is the overall legacy of this team? My take is that the Steelers had a good year, especially considering that Le'Veon Bell, Kelvin Beachum, Maurkice Pouncy and Ben Roethlisberger were all MIA for multiple games each. It is also important to note that the Steelers won a playoff games for the first time since January of 2011. The Steelers took a step forward, not backward, and a lot more good came out of this season than bad. While it was a good year in a lot of aspects, it could have been better.

The Steelers did lose some winnable games, Baltimore 2X, Seattle, and the first meeting with Cincinnati all could have easily gone the Steelers way, but did not. At the same time, they did beat Arizona with Landry Jones, as they came back from 17 down at the half to down Denver in the regular season meeting, so the tough losses are somewhat balanced out. Yes, the Steelers could have been better, but there are a lot of positive things to take away from this year, and Pittsburgh showed that they are a force to be reckoned with in the AFC. I'm sure some people are angry with the way this season turned out and have dismissed this season as a failure. I have a message for those people: get out of the time bubble.

There is a high level of pride in this city, and that can be a bad thing at times. If people are disappointed with the way this season went to the point where they think that the negative outweighs the positive, they are probably basing that off of who the Pittsburgh Steelers were and not what they are. People in this city tend to think that because the Steelers have 6 Superbowl rings, they forever shall be the class of the NFL, and are shocked by anything less than an AFC Championship game appearance. Well, I'm sorry, prideful yinzers, but that is not an accurate way of thinking. It is not 2010 anymore (or 1978, if you really set the bar high). The past four years the Steelers records have been 8-8, 8-8, 10-6 and 11-7. The Steelers progressed more this season than they have since their Superbowl run in 2010, and that is a big positive.

The Steelers are no longer the class of the NFL. What they are is a team that is fantastic on one side of the ball and has a lot of growing to do on the other side. If you are that discouraged with your beloved Stillers right now, the least you can do is look toward the future. The Steelers at full strength are better than any other team in the AFC North and are my very early favorites to win that division. Our window for a 7th Lombardi is not closed by a long shot. We all know how good this offense is, and believe me, the defense will get better. The front 7 is talented and will get better with maturity, and the secondary has nowhere to go but up. If Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin are smart, they will take a defensive back with their first round pick, and he will be named the starter before he reaches the podium to shake hands with Rodger Goodell. One name to keep in mind between now and April 28th is Desmond King from Iowa. King was second in the country in 2015 with eight interceptions and was the heart and soul of that Iowa defense. I think he would be a great fit, and at the very least, an upgrade over Antwon Blake. Don't be surprised if the Steelers take another linebacker, but pray like hell that they don't.

Let the front office decide what needs to be done this off season. All we can do as fans is pray that this team has all of it's weapons ready to go in 2016. If Ben, Bell and Pouncey play a full season, and both the defense continues to make strides, Martavis Bryant becomes one of the games better receivers, and players like Chris Boswell and Alejandro Villanueva can prove that they are not one-shot wonders, 2016 will be a lot of fun.