Searching for an Identity
Steelers face uncertain offseason
By Jerry DiPaola

The NFL season is such a unique combination of victories and defeats, successes and failures by mostly mediocre teams that you can start 6-2, end 3-0, beat most of the best teams on your schedule - and still not make the playoffs.

On the other hand, a team can lose five in a row, look comatose against four bad teams early and late in the season - and still fall into a postseason berth like an old, dogged racehorse with mud on its shoes, but determination in its heart.

Both scenarios were possible when the Steelers headed into their final game of the 2009 season in Miami. Unhappily for Steelers fans, the one where the season ends after 16 games was the one to occur.

The Steelers finished 9-7-only two games worse than their 2005 regular season that led to a Super Bowl victory-and missed the postseason. Even if they had slipped into the playoffs, extending a largely miserable season into mid-January would not have masked the problems that lowered the Steelers into this precarious situation in the first place. They were a team that did not appear particularly deserving of a postseason berth.

It would made better sense-and sounded a lot more like justice-when the Steelers finished 9-7 and out of the playoffs. Yeah, it's only 11 months after the Super Bowl, but that's how far and how fast the Steelers have fallen.

In six of their first seven defeats-the loss in Cleveland was an island unto itself in terms of devastating moments in franchise history-the Steelers' defense failed to protect a lead or tie in the fourth quarter. In the season's first 14 games, the Steelers gave up 121 points in the final eight minutes of regulation.

Staring hard at a desperate situation, the Steelers held the Ravens scoreless in the fourth quarter Dec. 27 at Heinz Field, but it was not a rich, fulfilling victory. Were the Steelers lucky to win and stay alive in the race for the playoffs?

You decide.

Ravens veteran wide receiver Derrick Mason, as reliable a pass catcher as there is in the NFL, dropped a perfectly thrown Joe Flacco pass in the end zone when he had at least a step on the defense. It would have been one of three Flacco touchdown passes against what has become a poor Steelers pass defense.

Twice, the Ravens crossed the goal line in the second half of a 23-20 loss, only to have both plays reversed by penalties. Overall, the Ravens committed 11 penalties for a loss of 113 yards, many of them negating positive plays for Baltimore.

Luck? There is no such thing in the NFL, but most calls went the Steelers' way.

Plus, the Steelers extended their incredible string of 15 consecutive games without an interception by a cornerback. Linebacker James Farrior stole a pass in the first quarter, stopping a six-game streak in which the Steelers' defense did not have an interception by anyone. The Steelers haven't gone that long without a pick since 1960.

In a season of streaks, that may be the most unbelievable.

Meanwhile, in an unintentionally alliterative phenomena, Ravens running back Ray Rice ran for 141 yards. It was the first time in 34 games the Steelers allowed a back to rush for 100 yards, but stopping the run had not been the No. 1 problem. Now it looks like one of many.

In fact, the lack of overall good defense-on scrimmage downs and special teams-kept the Steelers from winning the one or two more games they needed to clinch a playoff berth.

The inability to make big defensive stops at key times-until two big sacks by LaMarr Woodley on the Ravens' final two plays-doomed the Steelers' season.

Farrior hoped Woodley's sacks signaled a change.

"We knew our defense has been struggling to stop teams at the end of the game," Farrior said, "and this was big for us. Hopefully, it will carry over and we'll have teams do what they need to do and we can get into the dance."

But it was too late. The Steelers entered January as one of five 8-7 teams jockeying for two playoff berths in Week 17. Beating the Dolphins would not be enough.

Even if the Steelers did not use up the allotment of good fortune, their problems are much more than poor defense at inopportune times.

Running back Rashard Mendenhall scored a touchdown against the Ravens, but he carried 17 times for 36 yards. The offensive line play remains below the standard all good teams must meet.

Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is often questioned for not using the running game as a battering ram the way Mike Mularkey and Ken Whisenhunt did with Jerome Bettis. But what is Arians to do? Increase Mendenhall's carries and maybe he'll actually-dare we say?-get 60 yards?

Face it: The Steelers don't have a running game or pass defense that looks capable of carrying them into the playoffs. And a 2-5 record away from Heinz Field doesn't indicate postseason success for a team sure to hit the road, if it's lucky enough to even get there.

That's not to suggest that the Steelers need to blow up their roster in the offseason. Changes will be made, but some of the ingredients are there for another playoff run in 2010.

The Steelers have two 1,000-yard receivers (Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward), a 1,000-yard rusher (Mendenhall) and 4,000-yard passer (Ben Roethlisberger). It also has three pass catchers with at least 70 receptions, including tight end Heath Miller. Roethlisberger, in fact, is the first Steelers quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards- another indicator that this team just can't run the football like a champion.

The biggest offseason mystery involves whether or not to re-sign four free agents - nose tackle Casey Hampton, free safety Ryan Clark, backup running back Willie Parker and kicker Jeff Reed.

Hampton, one of the best defensive linemen in the league, will be difficult to replace. But he will be 33 at the start of next season. If you sign him, the amount of money you offer and the length of the contract are difficult to determine.

Clark can be replaced, and it does sound like a good time to rebuild the secondary.. Cornerback and safety should be Steelers priorities in the draft and free agency.

Meanwhile, Parker could help another team, and he probably wants to go somewhere to earn more playing time. Reed is reliable, even if he does act like a knucklehead off the field. How much money you pay a kicker is the tough question to answer. One team in desperate need of a kicker could start a bidding war, and the Steelers will be pacifists in such a venue.

Those situations soon will be the subject of closed-door conversations at the team's practice facility. The offseason always starts early for losers.