What is it with the Steelers and playing down to competition?

A few years ago I made a comic about how the Steelers, fresh on a massive offensive high, were going to obliterate a garbage Jets team. The Jets won, and I had to eat crow. Several commentors called it beforehand and pointed out that this happens all the time. I started paying attention and…they’re right. The Steelers do no show up against teams they have no business losing to. It’s like they take the week off when they think they should win. The mighty steel industry powerhouse shows up one week, then the next week they are a jenga tower in a jet engine test facility. It’s weird.

It’s not like they lose every one of these games, but there is a definite trend of playing down to the competition. The Steelers are a Super Bowl caliber team when they are clicking, but they can never stay clicking. This past week they lost to the 2017 Chicago Bears. The BEARS. The Bears are my pick for #1 overall pick this season, I have no faith in the Bears whatsoever. The Bears didn’t even play well! Mike Glennon completed roughly 2 passes give or take a wet fart. The Bears committed a likely candidate for special teams gaff of the year, if not one of the dumbest moves in the entire season. All the move ended up doing was sending the game into overtime because the Bears didn’t score again until regulation ended. At 17 points. The Bears tried like hell to bears away that game but ultimately, the Steelers steelered it instead. If the Steelers miss out on a bye week or just squeak out of the playoffs we are all going to look back at this game and go “Well, there’s your problem”.

Maybe they were distracted because their attempt to stay apolitical for the anthem backfired as the entire team wasn’t quite on the same page and it became a whole thing. Maybe Mike Tomlin looks at bad teams on the schedule and decides he’d rather spend a few more days in hollywood hot tubs pretending to be Omar Epps. Maybe Tomlin wasn’t even on the field, maybe it WAS Omar Epps! Epps is an actor, he could play the role. Maybe Tomlin takes time off and has Epps fill in against teams the Steelers should be able to take care of! Man, why didn’t I think of this BEFORE I made this comic? Goddamnit.

Anyway I know Antonio Brown doesn’t have the Tetris haircut anymore but I’m going to keep drawing him that way because it was amazing and everyone will know who it is anyway.