It wasn't nearly as exciting as last year's sixth ring for us Steeler fans, but last night's Super Bowl was still pretty entertaining to watch. It's hard for me to watch any Super Bowl game without thinking of what the Steelers can learn from the teams on the field. I'm sure almost all of the players, coaches, and front office personnel were watching and here are a few things that they should have made special note of before they went to bed last night.

Borrowing my favorite trend from The Pensblog again.

Manning = stunned.

Pitt cancelled classes for Monday due to MASSIVE SNOW so I'll see if I can put something up about the Steelers in between writing huge papers on artifical intelligence and writing thousands of lines of code.

Whatever, it's all good right now. And with the Superbowl concluded, we are now officially in offseason mode. Here We Go.

Well, I've taken a bit of a break from posting to sit back and enjoy the playoffs, and enjoy them I did. But the Superbowl is fast approaching and with all the Brees vs. Manning hype all over the place, it feels like the right time to talk about something other than a high-flying offense.

And what's farther from a high-flying offense than the 2009 Steelers defensive line? We've got a lot of time to kill between now and training camp, so one of the things we'll look at will be the Steelers team by position. We'll look at how well they did and how well they're poised to do in 2010. Jump.

In list form:

1. The best way to win in the NFL has evolved. Just a few years ago, you still won by having a suffocating defense and a ferocious running attack. In short, the best way to win a big NFL game was by running the ball and stopping the run. This is the philosophy that the Steelers have long employed and one that most Steeler fans believe in. But I'm not sure it is the right one anymore. Just look at the Indinapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints -- the two teams who were leaps and bounds ahead of everybody else for most of the season. Both are defined by a passing offense. Indianapolis has to have one of the worst running attacks we've seen in recent Super Bowl matchups. On Sunday, the Colts offense relentlessly threw five-yard slant routes over and over again. Everybody knew they were going to do it, but it was unstoppable. Bruce Arians gets a hard time because of his pass-first mentality, but that is what the NFL elite teams are employing in this NFL. The Colts made easy work of two "old-school" teams during these playoffs. This is a passing league now and the Steelers have the horses to compete in it.

2. The officiating was mostly awful. It's always interesting to watch an NFL game with no real rooting interest and then look at the officials. That was my position for the NFC Championship game on Sunday night and I was horrified at what I saw. One of the reasons that the NFL is a passing league now is because of the ridiculous pass interference and illegal contact calls that litter big time games. The pass interference call in OT that went against the Vikings says it all. There wasn't even any contact down the field between defender and receiver, but if the offensive player falls down while covered, there's a good chance a yellow hankie will come flying. Simply, the defensive backs have no chance in this league most of the time.

3. Adrian Peterson is not the best running back in football. It doesn't matter how many yards and highlight-reel plays you rack up if you can't hold on to the football when it matters most. It's not an isolated incident a la Jerome Bettis-in--2005 either. He's done this time and time again and it is a big problem.

Just checking in to assure everyone I'm still around. A couple of notes about Divisional Weekend follow, plus a few ideas for the Blitzburgh offseason.

*I didn't do this for Wildcard Weekend because I pretty much didn't see any of the games. Whatever. Jump.

We get emailed press releases all of the time and usually don't even open them up. But Monster's Director of Fandemonium contest has caught our eye because a devoted Steeler fan is among the finalists. Here's how to vote for her and the other finalists...plus a video of her flubbing basic Steeler knowledge.

Even though the 2009 season was a disappointment for the Pittsburgh Steelers, there are still moments and players worth remembering. It's with this in mind that we decided to hand out some e-awards to some members of the team for their play in 2009. Besides, it beats talking about watching the other teams that actually made the playoffs.

First up, we hand out our honors for rookie of the year. It's a runaway vote for a third-round pick that consistently ran away from opposing defenses during 2009...jump it.

QB coach Ken Anderson has retired. And accoridng to KDKA, Bruce Arians gets the axe today. Many Steelers fans get their wish.

Back in training camp, Mike Shanahan had been spotted hanging out wathcing the Steelers practice. I don't know about anyone else, but visions danced in my head of Shanahan taking over the offense under Tomlin. Shanahan is all over the Redskins' job, though, so it looks like that fantasy will never be a reality.

As for Arians himself, I'm not sure if he's really to blame. The offense obviously had problems at times, and it's easy to blame play-calling when it doesn't work. But how many times is Ben the one calling plays in important situations or the red zone? We may never know. But Arians got the blame for the offense's struggles, and now he's out. Coupled with the retirement of Kenny Anderson, there's a big hole to fill on the Steelers' sideline. It will be interesting to see who Tomlin hires to fix this.

Looks like the organization isn't wasting any time getting down to business thiss offseason. Here We Go.

EDIT: Not official yet, but now it looks like this will happen by the end of the week.

EDIT AGAIN: Or not. Arians is apparently retaining his job, but Bob Ligashesky has also been relieved of his duties as special teams coach. Finally.

As I type this, the Jets are hammering the Bengals in an embarassment to the AFC North. I'm calling this game at 30-0 in the 4th. In any case, the playoff mystery has been solved with both Baltimore and the Jets winning.

WILDCARD WEEKEND:

• Baltimore Ravens (6) at New England Patriots (3)
• New York Jets (5) at Cincinnati Bengals (4)
• Philadelphia Eagles (6) at Dallas Cowboys (3)
• Green Bay Packers (5) at Arizona Cardinals (4)

Three out of those four games will be rematches, which has to be some kind of NFL record. And with no-shows by the Eagles, Cardinals, and Bengals in each meeting, it's hard to think any of those will be any different.

If you're disappointed the Steelers didn't make it, so am I. But they didn't really belong with the NFL's elite after what happened this season. The bright side is that they finished strong and gave us a reason to watch in the last three weeks. For that I thank them. But now the Steeler offseason will begin and we'll have a lot to talk about over the summer. For the next month, pick your next allegiance and enjoy what the 2009 season has been leading up to.

After that, we'll deal with free agency, the draft, coaching changes, and all the other stuff football nerds love about the offseason.