It has been nearly 25 years since I glanced back at Pittsburgh through the rearview mirror of my silver Grand Am, leaving my hometown behind much more by force than by choice.
Through the miracle of modern technology, however, I never have felt closer to the city than over these past few years.
I have this app for my phone that allows me to take a small subset of the city's passion for sports everywhere I go. It's the one that allows me to listen to Pittsburgh's 24-hour sports station, 93.7 The Fan.
And what I've heard through most of this autumn on that station saddens me.
When did Pittsburgh become so soft?
How could the fans of a team with more modern championships than any other franchise in the National Football League become so consumed with a single failure as to obscure every past success and current victory?
Look at yourselves in the mirror, Yinzers: Is this who you want to be?
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Given the nature and consequence of a 36-17 defeat against the Patriots in last season's AFC championship game, it was no particular surprise the Steelers' 2017 offseason was defined by the attempt to close that gap. The goal is a championship, and the team is reasonably close, so it was essential to address whatever weaknesses existed in the pursuit of another playoff victory, or two, that would take Pittsburgh back to the league's summit.
It hasn't stopped there, however.
The Steelers have played nine regular-season games this season, winning seven, including five on the road. It is a record only one team out of 32 has bettered. In compiling that record, the Steelers have been about as stylish as a frat boy at a kegger, so there has been much about which to complain. Primarily, it is the impotent offense that has persisted in moving slothfully despite the presence of superstars at wideout and running back, an acclaimed offensive line and a quarterback who has appeared in three Super Bowls. The Steelers nevertheless rank 10th in yards, 19th in points.
Complaints about the team's sometimes-indifferent approach to games against underdog opponents, or the erratic play-calling of offensive coordinator Todd Haley, seem rational. Discussions regarding the relationship between Haley and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger tend to be more soap-operatic than necessary; it's not about whether they like each other, but rather whether their working relationship is as functional as it should be. But they're not immaterial.
To frame the existence of these and other struggles — the entire season, in fact — in the context of how they will impact a scheduled December matchup against the Patriots, or a hypothetical rematch in the AFC title game, is closer to obsession.
That is where much of Pittsburgh stands at the moment, however, with an astonishing amount of the conversation on 93.7 The Fan devoted to the Steelers' likely failure the moment they step into the arena with the Patriots. Unless the talk is redirected to the current struggles of the Pitt athletic department, or the Penguins' pursuit of a third consecutive Stanley Cup, it is nearly impossible to get through an hour of conversation without the fixation with all things Patriots being revisited.
Some of that is the work of a host or two recognizing another trip through New England will drive conversation. Most of it barges into football discussions completely unsolicited, and often entirely tangential, from listeners.
Belichick and Brady are so far inside the heads of so many Pittsburghers, it's a wonder someone isn't sketching their caricatures onto the wall at Primanti Bros. in the Strip.
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Look, the Steelers' history against the Patriots since Belichick and Brady arrived is pretty terrible. They've played 13 times. The Steelers have won three. On three of those 13 occasions, those games occurred in the AFC championship. The Patriots won all of those, advancing to the Super Bowl in the 2001, 2004 and 2016 seasons. There is no disputing they’ve been the preeminent franchise in the NFL over the past two decades, given their five Super Bowl victories and so much more.
During that period, though, the Steelers made it to the Super Bowl three times and won twice. That's not the record of a team that ought to fear an opponent the way some Steelers fans cower at the mere prospect of meeting the Patriots again.
You’re better than this, Pittsburgh. Your team might be, too.
