SPORTS: What's Next for the Champs?

*Posted February 7, 2009*

Mike Tomlin continues to amaze me with his wisdom when he said that there would be no talk of repeating as champs next year. In this day and age, teams are constantly bringing in and shipping off players, and next year's team will be a new group with a new feeling all of it's own. Hard to accept that this guy is turning 37 this year. But that sort of talk will be tolerated by everyone else, including me. What are the chances of us repeating next year? The reason 2006 was a stinky season was the horrific motorcycle accident in the offseason. So barring any more trauma to Roethlisberger's head, I'm loving our chances. Once again we expect the Pats, Colts, Chargers, and Ravens to at least be good, but Tomlinson is way past his prime, Manning is another year older and weaker, and the Ravens have to resign their old defense before they do anything else. We still have no idea what's going to happen with Favre and the Jets, and the Chiefs, Raiders, Browns, and Bengals will continue to suck. As long as Tom Brady's shredded knee bothers him this year, it's not hard to see us back in the championship game. Also, consider this. The Steelers, after coming off the hardest schedule in 30 years, will have the easiest schedule this year. The core group of players will be coming back, and Huge Ben is entering the prime NFL QB age of 27. The Steelers have proven that they can throw a pretty shitty offensive line on the field and still win a title. If we draft some young OLs in a few months and improve the line, watch out. As long as Big Ben doesn't die and Santonio doesn't sell more drugs, the NFL's collective goose is cooked next year.