Make it Work.

 

As many of you know I’m a huge Pittsburgh Steeler fan.  I grew up in the era of domination where four Super Bowl rings were earned in 1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979.  It was during that time that the “terrible towel” was created as the rally flag of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  It’s been taken to the peak of Mt. Everest and on the International Space Station.  More importantly it’s raised over 3 million dollars for people with mental and physical disabilities. Any city in the USA that I traveled to I could find a “Steeler Nation” fan club to hang out with and grab a drink and a burger. 

This season, my terrible towel has stayed mostly neatly folded on a side table.  Conversation has been easy during the game because of low scores.  Wins have been nail biting close.  “There’s always next week” has become an ongoing mantra.

This week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts was different.  The Colts are #1 in the AFC South with the highest ranking in points in the league for offensive domination.  Great quarterback, solid team.  However, this Sunday, the Steelers found a way to make it work.  Their brand new, late drafted corp of receivers: Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton, Martavis Bryant were catching passes.  The offensive line and quarterback Ben Roethlisburger’s complete confidence in and out of the pocket prevented sacks and enabled plays.  Offensive records were broken, fans went crazy, the game was won!

More importantly, it seems as if a rocky August, 2014 start of 53 individual professional football players committed enough, practiced enough and executed enough to create the kind of team that they believed they could be.  The greatest victory is not even that the Pittsburgh Steelers won the game.  The greatest victory is that the triumph of the Steelers became the victory.

Now, onto next week.