Without a playoff win, the Steelers’ 2017 season left a lot to be desired

Boy, it really seems like I'm piling on with these Debbie Downer articles these days, huh?

Yes, but I guess you can't blame me for questioning Mike Tomlin or the validity of the 2017 Steelers as a true 13-3 team, not after that team didn't manage even to win a playoff game.

As a wise man—former ESPN reporter John Clayton—once said, "Any season that includes at least one playoff win is a good season."

I realize, like me, you're a Steelers fan. Therefore, any season that doesn't include a Super Bowl win is a bad season.

But, come on, if that's the case, how come you and I are still talking about the Immaculate Reception, some 45 years after it happened?

Contrary to what many people may actually think, that miracle pulled off by legendary running back Franco Harris didn't happen during a Super Bowl year.

In fact, one week after Harris' heroics helped slay the Raiders in the Divisional Round of the 1972 postseason, Pittsburgh lost to the Dolphins in the AFC title game.

So why are we still talking about it? Because you can get a lot of mileage out of even one playoff win.

Take the new Immaculate Reception, namely the Stefon Diggs walk-off touchdown catch and run that gave the Vikings an improbable 29-24 victory over the Saints in the NFC Divisional Round of this year's playoffs.

Yes, Minnesota got absolutely crushed by the Eagles a week later in the NFC title game, but you just know every Vikings diehard was walking a foot off the ground for days after the Diggs' miracle. As a fan, moments like that are what you live for, because they don't come around that often, and when they do, they usually don't happen to your team.

The crushing loss in Philadelphia, aside, Vikings fans will be talking about that play forever, and Diggs probably won't have to pay for another drink in Minnesota the rest of his life.

Years from now, I'll still be talking about that wild-card victory over the Bengals two seasons ago—and Pittsburgh went on to lose in the same round as this year.

I know this, because I still reminisce about that overtime victory against the old Houston Oilers in the wild-card round of the 1989 playoffs, a game that took place nearly three decades ago.

To repeat myself: you can get a lot of mileage—many years of happiness—out of one playoff win.

Heck, if you were a Bills fan in 2017, you didn't even need a postseason victory to make you happy—simply ending an 18-year postseason drought was more than enough to give you memories to last a lifetime.

The Steelers got their 13 wins in 2017. The Steelers got their bye.

But the Steelers didn't give you or me any postseason magic.

BTSC's own Bryan Anthony Davis talked all season long about the 2017 script, and how the Steelers were simply adding chapters to a story that was sure to have a happy ending.

Unfortunately, the Steelers 13-win story was one that didn't include any January memories, and once we got to the end—that final chapter—your only thought was.........

"That's it?"