Thus ends the story of the 2010 Pittsburgh Steelers.
It will probably be a game that haunts Pittsburgh fans for years. The Steelers turned the ball over three times, including a backbreaking fumble by Rashard Mendenhall with the Steelers 30 yards away from taking the lead. Ben Roethlisberger threw 2 interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown.
While the Steelers did their part to beat themselves with turnovers and penalties, much credit goes to Green Bay for taking advantage of those turnovers. Aaron Rodgers was great and didn’t make any mistakes. The Steelers got to him often, but he made several huge throws to seal the deal.
Anybody trying to pin the loss on one Steelers player O’Donnell-style is an idiot. The Packers were just better. You don’t beat good teams when you turn the ball over three times and they don’t turn it over at all. That is the only thing that really matters. (As an aside, the Steelers offensive line was great tonight.)
Looking forward, if there is even a season next year, the Steelers desperately need to fix their pass defense. Everybody is going to continue to spread the field against them and the Steelers can’t get by with ‘zone cornerbacks.’ Ike Taylor is the only one capable of playing well in press man coverage and that has to change. The NFL is now a passing league and it is time for the Steelers to adjust.
This post is all over the place. Don’t even care.
EDIT: Brian here. Don’t expect a recap by tomorrow morning. I have a ton of stuff to do thanks to taking the weekend off for Superbowl festivities with the family. I’ll get it up in the next day or two.