Connelly: Steelers season a real laugher

As the saying goes, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

On a cold wintry Sunday at Heinz Field, with their season and playoff hopes on the line, the Pittsburgh Steelers were neither.

If it weren’t for a second sideline blunder in as many weeks, the Steelers would be 6-7 and a game back of the Baltimore Ravens for the final wild-card spot in the AFC.

Instead, the Steelers are 5-8 and all but eliminated from playoff contention in what has been a season that’s provided more reasons to laugh than a CBS sitcom.

It started on the very first play of the season. The Tennessee Titans spotted the Steelers two points off the opening kickoff by inconceivably being called for a safety. The Steelers didn’t score again until 1:23 remained in the fourth quarter and lost 16-9.

Playing in the United States wasn’t working out too well for them by Week 4, so they hopped a plane to London. It was there the Steelers fell to 0-4 as Ben Roethlisberger was stripped of the football on the 6-yard line with 19 seconds left, giving the Minnesota Vikings a 34-27 victory.

Then, after two consecutive wins, the Steelers traveled west to Oakland for a 1:05 p.m. kickoff (Pacific). Only someone forgot to tell that to the defense, who watched Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor take the first snap and run 93 yards for a touchdown.

It was the longest touchdown run by a quarterback in NFL history. The Steelers didn’t find the end zone until the fourth quarter and by then it was too little too late, falling 21-18.

This team wasn’t done setting records just yet. The next week in New England, the Steelers put on a defensive performance so bad that even the surly Patriots coach Bill Belichick could be seen cracking a smile from underneath his finest hooded sweatshirt.

That’s because his team scored 55 points and accumulated 610 total yards, both of which are the most ever allowed in Steelers history.

Over the next three weeks, the Steelers rebounded to beat a team with a rookie quarterback (Buffalo), a team whose quarterback has a turnover habit (Detroit), and a team without a quarterback (Cleveland).

Which brings us to Thanksgiving. On a day where the entire country gives thanks by spending time with those who mean the most to them, two of the league’s most hated rivals squared off in prime time.

The Steelers proceeded to botch a field goal, drop a game-tying two-point conversion and, perhaps above all else, watch their coach’s “accidental, almost interference” incident on the sideline go from a perceived lapse in judgment to a sudden indictment on the organization.

Believe me, Mike Tomlin deserved to pay every cent of the $100,000 fine the league dropped on him, but to strip the franchise of anything more than its dignity would be an unjustified punishment that seemingly wouldn’t fit the crime.

And oh yeah, the Steelers lost to the Ravens, 22-20.

On Sunday, after the Steelers defense missed tackle after tackle, refusing to wrap up the Dolphins’ 6-foot-3, 255 pound tight end Charles Clay — who moved more like Cassius Clay with his ability to shake off hits — the 2013 season unofficially ended for the black and gold.

If you don’t believe in karma, you probably should now. After all, it’s only fitting for the Steelers’ postseason hopes to be squashed by the left toe of Antonio Brown grazing the white out-of-bounds paint on a play that had everyone laughing afterwards — including Brown.

The same white paint Tomlin failed to stay on 10 days prior that drew a devious smirk from the coach as if to say, “I knew what I was doing.”

When the Steelers fail to make the playoffs or finish with a winning record for the second consecutive season, we’ll see who’s still laughing.

Kevin Connelly is a sports writer for The Vindicator. Write him at kconnelly@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Connelly_Vindy.