A Season Lost In A Game That Was Won?

A win for the black and gold has never felt as bad as it did on Sunday afternoon. Nobody in Steeler Nation wanted to think about it, but in the process of winning the game, the Steelers season could have been lost.

It happened midway through the third quarter, Big Ben Roethlisberger went to the ground and clutched his knee in obvious pain.  The collective breaths of Steeler Nation were held in silence, the thought of a season filled with potential lost to an injury that couldn’t be afforded.  

While it appears the Steelers franchise Quarterback is not lost for the entire season, he will be out a significant period of time and that might just be enough to cost this team a shot at the playoffs.  With Roethlisberger behind center, the offense flows like a well oiled machine. It’s arguably the most potent offense in the league.  Without Roethlisberger, well, we don’t know what they’re capable of but the ceiling certainly isn’t as high.

The black and gold now turn to Mike Vick, a 15 year veteran who has had success in the NFL but was unsigned until the end of the summer as he’s well past his prime. He’s not nearly as accurate as Big Ben, he’s certainly more turnover prone and he’s only run the offense for a month, meaning he’s not nearly as versed.  The offense will be scaled back and Todd Haley will probably lean on the run a bit more.  Fortunately with LeVeon Bell and DeAngelo Williams, the Steelers have a good opportunity to control the clock and run the ball efficiently. 

Vick will need to manage the game and may be called upon to use his feet a time or two as well.  With outlets like Antonio Brown, Heath Miller and Martavis Bryant coming back soon, if Vick can put the ball in the vicinity of the receiver, they’ll take care of the rest. 

It all starts this Thursday night, at home, vs. the Ravens in a game that provides the Steelers with the chance to burst the Ravens bubble and send them to an 0-4 start, virtually ousting them from any playoff hopes just a quarter of the way through the season.  After that, they face the Cardinals, Chargers, Chiefs, Bengals, Raiders and Browns before heading into a bye week.  Ben could conceivably miss all of those games, which is an extremely tough stretch of games to have the star of your team miss.  Let’s say he does miss those games, if Vick can lead the team to a 4-3 record in that span and hand a 6-4 team back over to Big Ben, the Steelers still have a shot at something special.

If Vick can’t manage that, this season could all be lost in a game that was won.

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