So this is what it's like to live in Cleveland or Detroit or Houston or Jacksonville?
We aren't even to November, and the Steelers' season feels like it's over.
Can we admit they are a bad football team?
At this point, the Steelers have a better chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick in next April's draft than they do of making the playoffs. Only the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans have a worse record than their 2-5 mark. This won't be the first time they'll sit out the postseason — it will be the third time in the past five years — but it's been a long time since things have felt this hopeless this early. You have to go back to the 2013 season when they started 0-4 and 2-6 and somehow finished 8-8. That team had Ben Roethlisberger in his prime.
Mike Tomlin's streak of never having a losing season appears to be unsalvageable. The Steelers are staring hard at a sixth consecutive season without a playoff win, which will be their longest run of ineptitude since before Chuck Noll became coach in 1969. Barring a minor miracle, they will remain stuck on three playoff wins since the 2010 season.
I think that covers the gloom and doom.
Well, maybe not.
I can't help but think of what franchise legend Rocky Bleier said after the Steelers gave up 41 points in consecutive losses to the Los Angeles Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals last season:
"The Steelers suck. This is a disaster."
That sentiment very much applies today.
I feel bad for Cam Heyward, a fine player, a strong captain and a better person. The Steelers have wasted his best years. He joined the team in 2011 and has been a part of just the three playoff wins. He is 33. It's fair to wonder how much good football he has left.
I feel bad for T.J. Watt, whose return to the lineup from a pectoral muscle injury and knee surgery can't come soon enough. He joined the Steelers in 2017 and has never won a postseason game. He was NFL Defensive Player of the Year last season and could have won the award the two previous seasons. Talk about the waste of a great player's prime.
I know the schedule lightens after the Steelers go to Philadelphia on Sunday to play the undefeated Eagles as 10-point underdogs. There are home games against New Orleans — Watt should be back for that one on Nov. 13 — Las Vegas and Cleveland, and road games against Indianapolis, Atlanta and Carolina. I'm sure the Steelers are looking at those as very winnable games. I'm also sure each of those teams is looking at the Steelers and seeing a win.
I also know what the players were saying after Sunday night's 16-10 road loss to the Miami Dolphins. They did their best to sound optimistic despite that awful record.
"There's plenty of football left. Ten games left," Minkah Fitzpatrick said. "We have all the pieces that we need."
I'm just not buying it.
I don't see it.
Sorry.
All of this doesn't mean that the 10 games won't be fascinating to watch. They will be all about Kenny Pickett's development at quarterback. Mitch Trubisky, because of his experience, gives the Steelers a better chance of winning right now than Pickett, who has thrown seven interceptions and just two touchdowns since taking over as the starter against the New York Jets on Oct. 2. Two of his interceptions came Sunday night in the final three-plus minutes. They were beyond hurtful.
But Pickett is the Steelers' future, not Trubisky. It's going to be fun to see if he can develop something special with his receivers, notably George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth. The 10 games should be anything but dull.
Relatively meaningless, maybe, but hardly dull.
