The date was December 21, 2008.

It was the tail-end of a Steelers beatdown at the hands of the Titans at LP Field. The victory secured the AFC’s number one seed for Tennessee and “clinched” the second seed for the Steelers.

Right near the end of the game, as the Titans were putting the finishing touches on the blowout victory, Tennessee running back LenDale White whipped out the Terrible Towel, the iconic symbol of Steeler Nation, and proceeded to stomp on it.

It was very disrespectful. To whom? Not sure. Maybe to the towel. Maybe to the Steelers. Maybe to their fans watching at home.

Anyway, the Titans went on to lose to a wildcard Baltimore team at LP Field in the divisional round of the playoffs two weeks later. As for Pittsburgh, it got to play both of its postseason games at Heinz Field. The Steelers took advantage of this by knocking off the 8-8 Chargers in the divisional round before outlasting the 11-5 Ravens in the AFC title game. Pittsburgh came from behind to defeat the 9-7 Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009.

I’m not sure what the 13-3 Titans were doing during that time, but they certainly weren’t playing any football.

Meanwhile, White, a second-round pick out of USC in the 2005 NFL Draft, only played one more season before a drug suspension and an Achilles injury cut his career short.

What a curse.

Just ask Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandazdeh, who shined his cleats with the Terrible Towel following a late-season victory at Heinz Field in 2005. The Bengals, winners of the AFC North, lost to Pittsburgh in the wildcard round. The Steelers went on to win Super Bowl XL. Fast-forward five years, and Houshmandazdeh, now a member of the Ravens, dropped what would have been a first-down pass in the final moments of Pittsburgh’s epic comeback victory in the divisional round.  The Steelers didn’t win the Super Bowl, but they got there.

Man, this curse is strong. Not only does it take out teams, but it haunts the individual disrespecters for years.

I’d like to think the Terrible Towel believes in forgiveness and second chances. If it does, the Titans have a bright future ahead of them. Why? They upset the Jaguars, 28-20, at Nissan Stadium last Sunday and helped Pittsburgh punch its playoff ticket in the process.

Congratulations, Tennessee. You paid off your debt. Throw a party. Prepare for future success. Invite Steelers fans over. They’ll probably thank you. Sure, they’ll continue to remind you of the curse of the Terrible Towel, but they’ll show appreciation for you getting their team into the playoffs.

As for the Jaguars? They were the latest team to disrespect the Terrible Towel during a 20-10 victory at Acrisure Stadium on October 29. What was once an 8-3 start and a sure division title turned into a 1-5 collapse and out of the playoffs at 9-8–or one game behind a Steelers squad that Jacksonville held a head-to-head tiebreaker over.

It felt kind of weird seeing fans get so worked up over other teams disrespecting the towel in 2023. I mean, the Steelers had their own problems during the regular season. They were disrespecting themselves–and the fans–by averaging 16 points a game and being so boring to watch that I often wanted to use my Terrible Towel as a blindfold.

But I guess the Terrible Towel curse knows no bounds.

Much like a dilapidated haunted house, the towel will still strike those who burst in unwelcomed and disturb it.

It took the Bengals 16 years to get back to the Super Bowl after Houshmandazeh’s shoe shine. The Titans had to literally help the Steelers make the playoffs 15 years after White’s disrespectful act in order to lift the curse (I think).

I’m guessing the Jaguars won’t be right again until the year 2039 or 2040.

They should have known better.