FanHouse Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers have had a great decade. Two Super Bowl titles, two more AFC Championship appearances and six playoff berths is a record most teams would love to have.

But there have been some bad losses along the way as well, few worse than the loss to the Chiefs on Sunday. Here's a look at the worst five losses of the decade.

It was a rough day around the AFC North. A day when all four teams lost games they should have won.

Baltimore came into Sunday with more to gain, and more to lose, than anyone in the division -- beat the undefeated Colts, and Baltimore would stay right in the middle of the AFC playoff race. Lose and the Ravens would be in danger of falling out of the mix altogether.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, Baltimore looked ready to give Indianapolis its first loss. But with Baltimore needing only a field goal to take the lead, quarterback Joe Flacco was picked off inside the Colts 20 in the final three minutes of the game. The Ravens had one more chance, but Ed Reed lateraled into a fumble in the final 30 seconds. Now Baltimore sits at 5-5 with two games left against the Steelers and time quickly running out.

It's fair to blame the Steelers defense for Sunday's shocking loss 27-24 overtime loss to the Chiefs -- Kansas City simply shouldn't be able to drive the length of the field in overtime to beat Pittsburgh. It's also fair to point fingers at a Pittsburgh offense that piled up over 515 yards of offense, but squandered all of it with two interceptions, a fumble and three costly sacks.

But as the Steelers' fans try to figure out what happened in one of the more embarrassing losses in recent Steelers history, the group that once again is most to blame is Pittsburgh's kick coverage unit -- easily one of the worst group of special-teamers in NFL history.

In fact, only one of the Steelers' four losses -- their first loss to the Bengals -- can not be blamed, at least in large part, on poor special teams play.

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After nearly throwing for 400 yards for the third time in his career (he hit on 32 of 42 passes for 398 yards and two touchdowns), quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had to leave the Steelers game in overtime with what appeared to be either a right shoulder or head injury. The Steelers would eventually lose to the Chiefs without him, 27-24.

On a sack in overtime, Roethlisberger was sandwiched between Kansas City's Derrick Johnson and Andy Studebaker and laid on the ground for a few minutes before being helped off the field. He was replaced by Charlie Batch, who did help the Steelers gain one first down before Pittsburgh had to punt.

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Pittsburgh has several easy games on the schedule over the final seven weeks of the season, but it's hard to think of a better week for strong safety Troy Polamalu to miss than this week's game against the Chiefs.

Polamalu will miss the game with a knee injury, although the Steelers are saying he should be back before too long. But even without Polamalu, the Steelers' secondary should be able to handle the Chiefs.

Kansas City is without wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, who was suspended four games for violating the league's performance-enhancing drug rules. Without Bowe, Kansas City lacks a viable No. 1 or No. 2 receiver. Chris Chambers, who becomes the team's No. 1 receiver, has only been a Chief for three weeks--he was picked up off the waiver wire when San Diego waived him. No. 2 receiver Lance Long was promoted to the active roster until three weeks ago as well. Tight end Sean Ryan is a true journeyman--he's playing for his fourth team in the past two years.

If you're a Steelers fan, you know that the Steelers kick coverage has been putrid, but considering how bad the Steelers coverage teams over the years have been, it's easy to not realize just how rank this year's special teams are. Thankfully, the Football Outsiders are able to give it some perspective.

In the 15 years of stats the FO guys now have data foor, the Steelers are coming up on a very dubious record. The 1995 Bills have the record for the worst kick coverage unit of all time--they are so bad that the difference between them and the second worst team is as much as the difference between the second worst and the 53rd worst unit.

If you've ever seen the Pittsburgh Steelers play a road game, it's not uncommon to see thousands of fans in black and gold in the stands (much to the chagrin of the local fans/writers), while you can probably find a "black-and-gold-bar" in just about every major city in the United States.

Needless to say, if the Steelers are playing, there's going to be a lot of fans with Pittsburgh-ties in the area. Their Week 2 game in Chicago, a 17-14, loss was no different, and one fan, 46-year-old Zack Eddinger, claims he was poisoned (and blinded) in a Chicago bar after an altercation with a group of Bears fans.

When you've given up three kick return touchdowns in the past four games, some heads are going to roll. For Pittsburgh, linebacker Arnold Harrison has been deemed the scapegoat, as he was cut on Tuesday when the Steelers started to shake up the kick coverage unit.

When the Steelers gave up a kick return touchdown to Browns' returner Josh Cribbs, it was a minor setback in what was an easy win. Percy Harvin's kick return against the Steelers gave Pittsburgh a scare, but once again, the Steelers figured out how to survive anyway.

When the Bengals beat the Steelers on Sunday, they came about as close as is possible to wrapping up a division in the middle of November. Cincinnati now effectively has a two-game lead in the division (thanks to their head-to-head tiebreaker advantage) with seven games to go. But more than anything, the easy schedule for the AFC North make it clear that we'll likely see at least two AFC North teams in the playoffs.

As we mentioned last week, the remaining Bengals schedule puts Cincinnati in a very clear driver's seat in the AFC North. Cincinnati's next three games are against the Raiders (2-7), Browns (1-7) and Lions (1-7).

PITTSBURGH -- When you go to a Pittsburgh Steelers game, you absorb the vibe. You live it. You expect a day of face-stomping, mouth-smashing and butt-kicking, and you walk away with the satisfying feeling that you've just beaten someone up. It's all about identity.

So it was a little disturbing to see 65,000 people leave Heinz Field Sunday all limping, hunched over, bleeding and holding their arms to their sides. The Steelers are supposed to be the team providing the stomping, smashing and kicking, not the face, the mouth and the butt.

And the last team you would expect to be pummeling the defending Super Bowl champs? Not just beating them, but pounding them? The Cincinnati Bengals.

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