Saturday, December 22, 2007
Pittsburgh needs a win in Baltimore or a Cleveland loss to clinch the AFC North title.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ben Roethlisberger says the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t change. Mike Tomlin says the same thing.
Recent history should tell the Steelers that change is inevitable and unavoidable.
The Steelers had their worst victory of the season on Thursday — they beat the St. Louis Rams 41-24 in their first game in that city since 1979, but lost franchise running back Willie Parker for the season.
The Steelers (10-5) were desperate to win after dropping two in a row, and they did — but at a potentially terrible cost. The NFL’s leading rusher with 1,316 yards, Parker broke his right fibula on his first carry and won’t carry the ball again until offseason workouts begin.
By winning, the Steelers are all but certain of being in the postseason; a loss by either Tennessee or Cleveland the next two weekends would assure that, as would a Steelers victory in Baltimore on Dec. 30.
Parker’s absence, however, may force the Steelers to greatly alter their offensive approach during the postseason, even though backup Najeh Davenport ran for 123 yards and scored two touchdowns against St. Louis.
Despite Tomlin’s declaration, “We don’t want to change our personality. We didn’t change our personality [Thursday],” reality often changes when the quality of the opponent also does. The Steelers won’t be playing any three-win teams in the playoffs.
What might have been the best Steelers team in history, in 1976, lost to Oakland in the AFC championship game when journeyman back Reggie Harrison (11 carries, 44 yards) couldn’t imitate injured 1,000-yard rushers Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier. The week before, when Terry Bradshaw threw when he wanted to rather than out of the necessity, the Steelers beat the Colts 40-14.
Without an injured Barry Foster, the 1993 Steelers lost to Kansas City 27-24 in a wild-card game. With running back Jerome Bettis barely able to walk on a badly injured groin, the 1996 Steelers lost to the Patriots 28-3 — a week after routing the Colts 42-14.
Remember when Tomlin said the Steelers would run Parker until the wheels came off? The wheels are off, and it may be time for Plan B.