Saturday Night Steelers Open Thread: Ace of Spades

In the words of the immortal Lemmy:

If you like to gamble, I tell you I’m your man

You win some, lose some, it’s all the same to me

The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say...

As you all know, KC and MT, with the blessings and direction of Mr. Rooney, pushed their collective chips into the center of the table in late April / early May. They gambled that the roster as it was assembled, with the infusion of high end talent at skilled positions as opposed to in the trenches, would be able to do significant damage and ensure Ben’s ride into the sunset would be a success.

However, since we last convened, we experienced the highs and lows of those choices and life being a Steelers fan. An impressive win against the hated, but respected, Ravens and a terrible defeat against a team that gave the Lions their first, and ONLY, win of the season. Yes, it was an incredible comeback, but that was fool’s gold. We are not a playoff team...

Yes, we have pieces to be competitive, but not competitive enough, and certainly not enough good pieces. If you questioned Ben’s heart, like I did, you saw on Thursday that he still has something left in the tank and being warrior is one of them. He took some nasty hits and got right back up each time. But Ben likely won’t be here next year...

So, what to do about the balance of the season?

1. What positives do you take from the previous 2 games and can they translate to next year?
2. Assuming being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, at what point do you give Mason and or Dwayne the start over Ben? Give us some details as to your reasons why.
3. As a fan, how do you deal with your team realistically being out of the playoff race?
4. As an objective fan of this team, how confident are you that a) Mike Tomlin is safe from the axe and b) that Kevin Colbert is safe as well? Bonus: Do you think Mr. Rooney will whisper in Tomlin’s ear about some coaching changes?
5. Picture this... you are sitting in front of your TV, fire is ablaze (in the fire place), you are sporting your cool new Christmas socks (if you are into that kinda thing - any bets on Reno or BBnG??) and of course the greatest Christmas Movie of all time comes on. Before Bruce Willis can get into Nakatomi Plaza which of your favorite Christmas cookie or treats are you grabbing?