Tim Benz: If Steelers lose on ‘MNF,’ turn out the lights. The party's over.
To borrow a phrase from “Monday Night Football” lore, if the Steelers lose to the Dolphins Monday at Heinz Field: “Turn out the lights. The party’s over.”
To be honest, the party should’ve broken up the minute JuJu Smith-Schuster fumbled in overtime against the Baltimore Ravens.
Maybe it did.
But the lousy AFC in 2019 is allowing Steelers fans to think that there is still hope for their team to squirm into the playoffs.
Yet, if the Steelers lose Monday night, they would drop to 2-5. And that defeat would come against one of the worst teams ever assembled.
If that happens, attention should turn to figuring out how to trade into the first round of the draft.
Unfortunately, Mike Tomlin-coached teams have a track record of losing games we previously believed to be “unlosable.”
The counter-stat to that point is that Tomlin-coached clubs are 14-2 on “Monday Night Football,” 6-0 at home. That includes another MNF win earlier this year against the still-winless Cincinnati Bengals (0-8).
That mark should improve to 15-2 tonight, even if the Steelers play poorly with a backup quarterback (Mason Rudolph) under center.
Steelers fans better hope that happens. Because it’s going to be awfully hard in the next two weeks to make up for a bad loss against Miami in an effort to keep faint hopes at a postseason berth alive.
Even though their next two games are also at home.
That’s because the games come against the Indianapolis Colts and the Los Angeles Rams.
The AFC South-leading Colts improved to 5-2 yesterday with a 15-13 win against the Denver Broncos. That’s not an impressive result, given Denver is just 2-6 and was playing on the road. But, before nailing a 51-yard game winner, the normally reliable Adam Vinatieri missed two kicks for the Colts to keep that score closer than it should have been.
Indy has won three games in a row, including victories against the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans — two other teams currently in the AFC playoff bracket.
The team has allowed just 16.3 points per game during their three-game win streak. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett is completing 65% of his passes, with a 14-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. And he turned in one of the plays of the year escaping Von Miller on this great throw to T.Y. Hilton Sunday.
JACOBY BRISSETT HOW?!?!
What a play!!#DENvsIND
(Via @NFL)
pic.twitter.com/t0utHBqVyy— PFF (@PFF) October 27, 2019
As for the Rams (5-3), they’ve resuscitated their season after a three-game losing streak. L.A. found their sea legs against those awful Bengals and the nearly as-dreadful Atlanta Falcons (1-7).
But at least the Rams have won convincingly against those two teams, by a combined total of 61-20. A Los Angeles defense that had been hemorrhaging points early in the year has only yielded 40 in the last three weeks.
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp seems to be completely healed from his knee injury a season ago. He’s up to five games of over 100 receiving yards. Kupp had seven catches for 220 yards against the Bengals Sunday in England.
None more eye-catching than this 65-yard score.
A beautiful play drawn up by the #LARams. Kupp has 165 yards in the first half! @JaredGoff16 #CINvsLAR @NFLUK
: CBS
: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app
Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/a16R5wPShJ pic.twitter.com/5yglMkxYLu— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2019
That was former Steeler B.W. Webb getting tripped up by the turf monster by the way.
Also, former Pitt Panther Aaron Donald is playing like the Aaron Donald of old. After totaling just one sack the first five weeks, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year has four of them over the past three games.
Cheers, @AaronDonald97! pic.twitter.com/4DX5C6UO7p
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) October 27, 2019
If the Steelers can’t get through these next three home games without at least two wins, they’ll be staring at no better than a 3-6 record, with seven games remaining.
Five of those games will be on the road.
Given that set of circumstances, understand that a Steelers win against Miami is — in fact — just against Miami.
While 3-4 may feel like the team is a bit more afloat than what we all thought three weeks ago, the schedule ahead is also a reminder of how massive a hole it dug for itself during the first five weeks of the season.
“Dandy” Don Meredith ain’t singing yet. But he’s getting the vocal cords warmed up.
Regardless of what happens on his former TV show Monday night.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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