Steelers Really Get a Kick Out of It

So, are the Pittsburgh Steelers the worst 16-1 team in NFL history?

Or merely the luckiest?

There’s a trick element to that first question, sort of similar to one of these clang-the-bar field-goal attempts Doug Brien thought he mastered last weekend against San Diego. Brien clangs the bar against the Chargers, the ball bounces through the uprights, the New York Jets go on to win in overtime. Seven days later, Brien clangs the bar against the Steelers, the ball bounces away, no good, and the Jets lose in overtime, enabling Pittsburgh to become the fourth 16-1 team since the NFL expanded its regular season to 16 games in 1978.

The ’84 San Francisco 49ers and the ’85 Chicago Bears both went 16-1, en route to 18-1 after consecutive Super Bowl routs.

The ’98 Minnesota Vikings were also 16-1, winding up 16-2 when they, as the Jets did six years later, placed their faith in their field-goal kicker, Gary Anderson, who missed a 38-yarder in the fourth quarter in the NFC title game against Atlanta. Minnesota, sticking to the master script with these things, went on to lose in overtime.

Saturday, the NFL took a look at its latest 16-1 team, which had the distinct look of just another 15-2 team before Brien clanged his 47-yard field-goal attempt with 1:58 left in the fourth quarter ... and hooked his 43-yard field-goal attempt on the last play of the fourth quarter ... and watched his Steeler counterpart, Jeff Reed, convert from 33 yards to pull out the game in sudden death.

Pittsburgh won, and that’s the best thing that can be said about a performance that included:

* Two interceptions thrown by Ben Roethlisberger, who handled his first NFL playoff start much the same way most rusty rookies with sore ribs would.

* An interception returned 86 yards for a Jet touchdown by safety Reggie Tongue.

* A punt returned 75 yards for a Jet touchdown by Santana Moss.

* Turnovers on consecutive fourth-quarter possessions that set up Brien with not one but two chances to take the AFC’s top-seeded team out of the Super Bowl tournament.

The Steelers survived by six inches, give or take.

If Brien’s 47-yarder travels six inches more and clears the bar, today’s Indianapolis-New England game is suddenly transformed from Interesting Quarterfinal to the Real Super Bowl. Or maybe it has already taken that step up, regardless.

As Pittsburgh Coach Bill Cowher frankly conceded to CBS sideline reporter Armen Keteyian, “We’ve got to play a lot better next week. We’ve got a lot we’ve got to get corrected in a very short time.”

Six more inches on that attempt by Brien and the Steelers are done, the wild-card Jets move on and the Colts and the Patriots today are playing for the home field in the AFC championship game.

“Hey,” Cowher told Keteyian, “we’re lucky we got through this game.”

Hey, the Jets were saying the same thing after last week’s overtime victory at San Diego. They were lucky to get through it. Eric Barton, especially. Barton, whose needless roughing-the-passer penalty gave San Diego the extra play it needed for the game-tying touchdown, was headed for the longest, coldest winter in New York football history before Brien salvaged the win with his overtime field goal.

Barton’s off the hook ... but guess who’s on it now?

Given two cracks to send the Jets through to the AFC title game, Brien, mighty Brien, struck out.

Tabloid-headline mantra to haunt him through the coming off-season:

Brien, Brien, and eight months of cryin’.

In Brien’s defense, the Jets have endured an overload of pressurized football lately. Saturday’s game was their third consecutive overtime game, an NFL first. That’s nearly 15 quarters in 14 days, all of them on the road: an overtime loss at St. Louis, an overtime victory at San Diego, an overtime loss at Pittsburgh.

Play that much vacuum-packed football, away from home, in such a condensed period of time and you know what they say. Stuff happens.

It’s tough to string together consecutive road victories in the playoffs, as the Rams discovered later Saturday in Atlanta. After winning their wild-card game in Seattle because the Seahawks couldn’t catch the football, the Rams lost to the Falcons, 47-17, because they couldn’t catch Michael Vick or Warren Dunn or Allen Rossum or pretty much anyone carrying the ball and wearing a black helmet.

The best thing that can be said about St. Louis’ performance against Atlanta is that at least the Rams took it out of Mike Martz’s hands early. The Falcons broke their club postseason rushing record five minutes before halftime. They led, 28-17, at the break, and needed only another five minutes to make it 35-17.

The Rams finished the regular season 8-8, making them a playoff novelty and a cause to get behind if you wanted the NFC to play out to its appropriate conclusion: a St. Louis-Minnesota conference final.

It can’t happen now, and it’s probably best for everyone concerned, including the Rams, who fell for Rossum fielding a punt and faking a pass -- that old bit! -- and running the ball straight up the middle for 68 yards and a touchdown.

The Rams have a lot that needs fixing during the off-season. Might as well get started on it today.