Before the Thursday night game against the Browns, I wrote an article warning that it would in all likelihood be a loss, and not to let it ruin your night. All the intangibles were working in Cleveland’s favor. The Steelers got back on the bus to the Burgh with a big stinking capital L hanging over them, and as is par for the course around here, I was completely unable to follow my own advice. Turning out the lights and trying to go to sleep after a frustrating prime time loss – what’s the most succinct way to sum this up – sucks. Yep, that’s the word I was looking for.

There were extremely questionable coaching decisions and clock management issues, a young offensive line that struggled with their first short rest game, a defensive front that could not get pressure, and no Jerome Bettis type heroic effort with his snow tires on to save the day.

What made it really hurt was the team making us think they might sneak out with a victory, despite all of the snafus and poor play. Russell Wilson throws a fantastic deep ball to CA3 for a score, and then the defense gets an interception late in the game, and all of a sudden Steeler Nation is sitting up in their beds wide awake with hopes of a miracle finish.

Hope can be both a powerful and a dangerous thing. There was an experiment in the 1950’s where rats were placed in jars of water. They would drown after just a few minutes, even though the rodents were capable of swimming much longer. They died so quickly because they could see there was no hope of escape. Then the researchers would rescue a new group of rats right before they gave up, let them rest a bit, and then stick them right back in the jars. The result? The poor little guys would tread water for up to sixty hours before succumbing to exhaustion, all because they now had hope!

What can we learn from this information? First, research scientists are all one step away from being serial killers, because that is some messed up you-know-what. If you have one of these people in your family, do not invite them over for Thanksgiving dinner. If they show up anyway, keep them away from the carving knives and your children. Second, us Steelers fans are always going to be disappointed and bummed out after a loss. Even when we know intellectually it’s not going to be our week, we have hope in our hearts week in and week out, year after year. Such is life when you root for a team that can over-perform to beat the best teams in the league while simultaneously capable of playing down to the worst.

The hope in my heart tells me that the Steelers will play smart, inspired football in Cincinnati this weekend, take advantage of a struggling defense with some key injuries in the secondary, and cap off the holiday weekend with a heaping serving of the feel goods. The analytical part of my mind that has been left to drown last week understands that if the offense has it’s typical slow start and perplexing in-game decisions by the coaching staff, Joe Burrow and company can rack up points in a hurry against a defensive line struggling to apply pressure with wide open windows in the second level of the zone coverage.

I truly have no idea how it will go, and it’s easy to be down on the team after dropping a winnable game to a struggling division rival. Come kick-off, though, we will all have hope in our hearts again because that’s what we do as ride or die fans of the Black and Gold. And if they don’t find a way to win, we will all be waving our terrible towels the week after when we get a chance of redemption when the Browns come to town.

That’s because this team is always in the mix. Even when they really do not have the roster to be in the conversation, they find a way to reach into that jar and pull us out of the water to give us hope. There are a lot of teams that never do that. Win or lose this week, that is one thing we can all be thankful for as Steelers fans. And that’s kind of the fun and point of it all, isn’t it?