It’s over.

It’s so over.

It’s never been more over than it is right now.

With their season on the line and their rapidly evaporating playoff spot in jeopardy, the Pittsburgh Steelers put together one of the worst efforts all year long.

Alex, are you forgetting about the last two weeks?

First off, how could I? And secondly, no I’m not.

For as bad as those games were, and they were bad, the situation was not nearly as dire as it was heading into Indianapolis.

The Steelers were 7-6, and thanks to Cincinnati winning earlier in the day, Pittsburgh was now clinging to the 7-seed in the AFC. Right behind them were the 7-6 Colts, who are riding off that Minshew Magic with their backup quarterback that has looked better than Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky combined.

This was the most critical game of the season (to this point, anyways), and the team came out absolutely flat.

Actually, that’s not fair. The Steelers got out to a 13-0 lead, and then came out flat after that.

The Colts scored 30 unanswered points to take a semi-confident Steelers team and completely demoralize them.

Gardner Minshew shredded a Pittsburgh defense that saw safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick leave due to injury Damontae Kazee be ejected for a hit he laid on Michael Pittman.

The Steelers pitched this game as essentially a playoff game, and what resulted was a 30-13 loss. A lot of people laughed at the notion that this was a playoff type game for the Steelers, based on their performance, but I actually found it rather accurate.

That poor level of play is how the Steelers have typically performed in playoff games as of the last few years. Whether it was that humiliating Browns game or that Kansas City beatdown, that’s how the Steelers look in playoff games. And it’s what we saw today.

That offense looked inept as ever after the first quarter, and that prized defense allowed the Colts to run all over them (literally and figuratively) all game long.

If you’re a frequent reader of this series, first of all, thank you, but secondly, you’re aware that most games I include some highlights and clips from the game.

I’m not going to do that this time.

I’m not going to do it, because despite the Cardinals and Patriots losses being far more humiliating, this is the one in this now three game streak that stings the most.

Because you would t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ hope that the Steelers, after suffering back to back losses to 2-win teams, that they would find it in themselves to try and show the football world that they’re better than that.

Regardless of whether or not that’s true, you would practically beg the Steelers to look alive for more than 15 minutes.

But I guess that’s too much to ask for.

And so in this case, I just want to o ramble for a bit.

Last year, when the Steelers were 5-8 thanks to Mitch Trubisky and his three INT performance vs the Baltimore Ravens, I thought that was it. I thought Mike Tomlin’s non-losing seasons streak, his last saving grace, was over.

I was wrong, of course, as the team finished the year on a 4-0 tear to extend Tomlin’s streak at least one more year.

I’m still not convinced that the Steelers will actually allow themselves to fall below a 9-8 record, mostly because this team has a deeply sick history of never being bad enough to force change.

But, if this really is the year that Tomlin’s streak is finally, mercifully over, I can’t think of any other year where it was more deserved for him to lose it.

I praised him for what he did last year to keep that streak going. That 4-0 run down the stretch, which included Christmas Eve and New Years Day heroics, was rather impressive, and it was a sign for hope in 2023.

Now, a year later, I can’t help but think I’d be content with that streak coming to an end, because that’s the only way that maybe change actually comes to this team.

When I was younger, I used to think it was ridiculous when any fan of any team I liked actively wanted the team to lose. I didn’t fully understand the tactic of tanking, and I didn’t fully understand that sometimes losing is actually better for the team.

I don’t think I could ever fully bring myself to actively root for my team to lose, but I think I am the most content with that happening at this point. Again, because that’s maybe, and I do stress maybe, the only way change actually happens.

If Tomlin has a losing season this year, then what is the benefit of keeping him?

I have massive respect for what he has done in his career, but we have to look at these last few years separately.

Tomlin has not won a playoff game since 2016. For almost any other organization, that would be inexcusable, and would lead to a coach being shown the door.

A lot of coaches in that position, however, also suffered a lot more regular season losses than Tomlin has.

Tomlin’s ability to never sink below 8 losses in any given season, I think, does matter to the organization. I think it matters a lot, and it exonerates him from a lot of the other problems and lack of success he has.

But if that streak, that oh so precious streak, is finally gone, there really is no other reason to not explore other options.

As for the playoff picture, I hope we all enjoy watching every other AFC North team get into the postseason.

-More thoughts down below:

-The Steelers fall to an even .500, but it might as well be 2-12.

-Putting Mason Rudolph in for the very last drive is actually one big middle finger to the entire fan base. The Steelers tried to tell us that they were so smart by sticking with Mitch, while the masses were clammoring for Rudolph to get the nod. Instead, the Steelers were only willing to make the change after the team was down 14 points with 2 minutes to go.

-I’m writing this weekly now, but my heart goes out to any Steeler fan who was in that stadium today. What an awful day.

-Mitch Trubisky is bad at football.

-We’re going to discuss that decision to punt later on in the week. That’s really a “deserves its own post” type of story.

-I get that injuries are playing a huge role in all of this right now, but your defense HAS to be better than this. It just has to.

-Godwin Igwebuike was the sole bright spot in this game. He had a few impressive kick returns.

–Odd stat of the game: Steelers K Chris Boswell missed his first extra point attempt of the season this year, hence the 13 instead of 14. Not that it mattered.

(Featured photo from Getty Images)