Prior to yesterday’s game at Heinz Field, Steelers fans had all the optimism in the world of their 6-5 season turning around. 3 hours later? Speechless…I mean, even I’m starting to lose some faith in the mystique of the Steelers. This is a team that always seems to get the bounces and find a way to win, especially when you’re talking about a close game.

With free tickets and a free limo ride to the game provided by the Double Wide Grill, we braved the freezing temperatures to check out a game that we all presumed would end in a blowout. Yet again, the unfortunate optimism that convinces me every week that the Steelers have each game won before kickoff let me down.

After three quarters of play, the Steelers were holding a 10-6 lead, which in itself was surprising. 10 points? Seriously? The longer the Raiders kept the game close, the more I started feeling another Chiefs-like upset looming.

Of course, like the Chiefs game, the Steelers had to seemingly take control before they were allowed to blow the game…

After the Raiders took a 13-10 lead, the Steelers drove right down the field to regain the lead at 17-13…followed by the Raiders driving down the field to regain the lead…followed by the Steelers driving down the field and regaining the lead…

With our heads spinning, the Raiders got the ball with about 90 yards to go and 1:48 on the clock. This is where the Steelers of old would’ve just put the game away with a sack/strip or something, but this defense isn’t last year’s defense. Oh, and don’t let the roster fool you. Even with the Steelers injuries, no one in their right mind would’ve thought the Raiders were going to successfully run the two-minute drill needing a TD. The Raiders were missing two starting O-linemen, and well, I barely know anyone worthy of discussing on their offense, so pardon me if I chuckle at the “if we had Troy” argument. I would expect any decent BCS team to stop this Raiders team in a two-minute drill with a career backup QB at the helm. Or maybe I’m just buying into the aura of Dick Lebeau’s Steeler defense again. The lines are getting fuzzy…

Regardless, the Raiders did the exact thing that all the people who left with 4-point Steelers lead and two minutes to go didn’t expect – they won…with 9 seconds left, and Bruce Gradkowski looked like a HOF’er. Wanna see it go down? Watch the highlights (set to The Ramones’ I Believe in Miracles…listen closely…that’s a highlight itself!):

That leaves us with an interesting stat. When Megan and I attend Ravens games, the Ravens are 2-0. When we attend Steelers games together, the Steelers are 0-4, including losses against the Chiefs and the Raiders. With the possibility of us getting tickets to the game on the 27th between the Ravens and Steelers, that stat seems promising…but don’t expect to see me show up at Heinz Field full of superstitious, nonsensical, optimism. I still can’t shake my fears of the Steelers or ignore the ineptitude of the Ravens this season. Hopefully that game means something for the Ravens, and IF it does…well, I hope they find a way to win.

In catching up on my blog, I completely overlooked one of the more interesting sporting events that I’ve been to this year – a little thing I’d like to call the Underpuppies vs. The Champs. The Chiefs were way worse than underdogs coming into the game, as Dwayne Bowe got suspended the week before the game, Larry Johnson got cut for being an idiot on Twitter, and Matt Cassell has shown how difficult playing quarterback in the NFL is when you don’t have Wes Welker, Randy Moss, and the Patriots O-line to work with. Needless to say, expectations for an exciting game were low, but since the trip was planned before the season even started, we had to hope for the best.

So we headed out to Kansas City for the Steelers/Chiefs game, authentic Mexican food, KC Barbeque, and inadvertently, the Hernandez retirement party. There wasn’t one aspect of the trip that let me down. In addition to meeting some great people, the food was authentically amazing and will force me to log many, many miles on a variety of stationary exercise machines in the coming weeks. If you refer to my past history of overindulgence when coming face-to-face with amazing food in seemingly endless supply, you can only imagine the gluttony.

Regardless, I didn’t eat myself into such a food coma that would pass out and missed the main event. I love going to stadiums that I’ve never been to, and the opportunity to hit up the legendary Arrowhead was something I couldn’t pass up…even if it meant missing the chance to stress out while watching Flacco throw the game away late against the Colts (sigh)…and even if it meant being in a crowd teeming with Steelers fans waving their Terrible Towels in a half-empty stadium – leaving the venue, once legendary for it’s diehard fans and noise levels, fairly quiet. In fact, I’ve never been in a stadium that empty for a NFL game, but I guess I’ve never been to game where the home team was struggling like the lackluster Chiefs. Even when the Ravens went 5-11 two years ago, the stadium at least filled up more than this. It looked like the fourth quarter of a 42-0 Steelers blowout…the whole time.

Fortunately, the Chiefs decided they wanted to extend their winning streak to 2 games, which offered the dedicated fans who showed up a special game to attend. While I’m not a real Chiefs fan, per se, the minute we heard that we were planning a trip to KC, I ordered a Priest Holmes jersey. Why Priest? Easy. He was a beast, he was a Raven, and since I was going to be missing the Ravens game I figured I’d support them in some way…all while cheering with Chris and his family. It was hilarious, but by the end of the game, I actually felt like a legit Chiefs fan, and I left there feeling like they’ll be one of those teams I’ll cheer for in the future (when they’re not playing the Ravens, that is).

It was so surreal watching the lowly Chiefs pull off the upset, but I guess we should’ve seen it coming the minute Jamaal Charles ran the opening kickoff back for a 7-0 Chiefs lead. The Chiefs fans were so happy that you would’ve thought they won the Super Bowl, so I guess, for at least a few hours, the fans in Kansas City felt like champions in the midst of another down year. I hope to get back there someday…when Arrowhead is screaming like it used to.