Colts 26, Steelers 7

Steeler football won this game.

It just wasn't played by Pittsburgh.

Last I checked, the Steelers' basic game plan is to pound the ball up the middle with a bruising back or two while keeping the secondary honest with the threat of the deep ball if they crowded the line of scrimmage to stop the run. The Colts' first play from scrimmage was a bomb to Marvin Harrison that exposed the veteran Ike Taylor making a rookie mistake. That caused Dick LeBeau to keep Troy back in the secondary and mostly away from the line of scrimmage where Edgeran James ran for 124 yards on 29 carries - the first 100-yard rusher that the Steelers have allowed in 23 games.

The vaunted Indy offense was impressive in their efficiency, but the Steeler defense did its job - they held Indy under 30 points. Our problem was on offense. Big Ben looked like he hadn't played NFL football in a month - he was as rusty as we expected - but Ben wasn't the problem Monday night, the offensive game plan was. Indy has an exceedingly fast defense, but that speed comes at the expense of size. There is no way that Indy could have taken a full 4 quarters of Deuce and The Bus, yet Whisenhunt tried to out-speed Indy with Fast Willie? I'm a certified Fast Willie fan, but you need the right back for the right job, and the job on Monday night was to beat up the Colts for 4 quarters - wear them down then score at will - and that is a job for big, bruising backs, not Fast Willie. This is two games in a row where the coaching staff has put together a mind-boggling game plan that looked nothing like Steeler football and ultimately lost the game.

Failure is unacceptable.

The coaching staff has the appearance of a group of guys who are comfortable in their jobs, who lack the hunger and drive necessary to win championships. There is a reason why football fans watch every Sunday - every game matters. Any given Sunday you can win or you can lose. This isn't baseball where you have 162 games and can afford a bad night or two, in football every game matters - the Steelers could not afford to play around with Baltimore last week and couldn't afford to lose to the Colts this week. Next week a hungry Bengals team is coming into Hines Field knowing that if they don't win that game then they are likely out of the playoffs - with 4 conference losses they would lose the Wild Card tiebreaker to both San Diego and Kansas City. The same thing applies to the Steelers all the more, but the coaching staff doesn't seem to have the drive to gameplan for championships, the hunger to go get it. The game against the Bengals this Sunday will test Cowher's strategic and tactical coaching ability (35-78 lifetime in games where the Steelers never led by 10 points or more) and will determine the Steelers' fate for the season - let us pray that Cowher can get up for the challenge.

Otherwise we may need a new coaching staff...