The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the vital profitable franchises in NFL historical past, however regardless of all their success, there’s one factor they’ve by no means been in a position to pull off: The Steelers have NEVER gained a Thursday evening street sport towards a divisional opponent.
The Steelers had an opportunity to finish that streak in Week 7, however as an alternative, the Cincinnati Bengals pulled off a 33-31 upset at Paycor Stadium. The Steelers have now performed a complete of 9 divisional Thursday video games on the street in franchise historical past, and so they’ve gone 0-9 in these video games, which incorporates going 0-7 below Mike Tomlin.
In Cincinnati, the Steelers had no solutions for Joe Flacco, who threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns within the win. Ja’Marr Chase additionally went off for a franchise file 16 catches to assist propel the Bengals.
For the Steelers, it was one other Thursday disappointment.
The Thursday dropping streak began in 1980 with a loss to the Houston Oilers, and it is now been occurring for 45 years.
Oilers (AFC Central) | Oilers 6-0 | Dec. 4, 1980 |
Jaguars (AFC Central) | Jaguars 20-6 | Dec. 2, 1999 |
Browns (AFC North) | Browns 13- | Dec. 10, 2009 |
Ravens (AFC North) | Ravens 22-20 | Nov. 28, 2013 |
Ravens (AFC North) | Ravens 26-6 | Sept. 11, 2014 |
Browns (AFC North) | Browns 21-7 | Nov. 14, 2019 |
Browns (AFC North) | Browns 29-17 | Sept. 22, 2022 |
Browns (AFC North) | Browns 24-19 | Nov. 21, 2024 |
This streak has been occurring for thus lengthy that the Steelers have performed two divisional video games towards opponents who aren’t even of their division anymore (Jaguars and Oilers/Titans).
It isn’t simply divisional video games, although, Thursday nights have typically been a nightmare for the Steelers. For the reason that AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Steelers are actually 3-16 in Thursday street video games, which is the worst profitable proportion of any NFL staff in that span.
This is a have a look at the three groups which were the worst in Thursday street video games since 1970 (through CBS Sports activities Analysis):
1. Steelers: 3-16 (.158)
2. Browns: 2-8 (.200)
3. Jets: 3-11 (.214)
The truth that the Browns and Jets are on that record is no surprise to anybody, however seeing the Steelers lumped in there’s undoubtedly surprising. General, the Steelers are 12-19 on Thursdays in franchise historical past.
If you happen to have a look at simply the video games performed since Tomlin was employed, the numbers do not get any higher. The Steelers coach is 2-10 on the street in Thursday video games, together with 0-7 towards divisional opponents. For the reason that begin of the 2019 season, the Steelers are 1-6 on Thursday evening.
With the Steelers going through Flacco, perhaps we should always have recognized that Pittsburgh simply wasn’t going to win. The Bengals’ victory gave Flacco 12 profession wins towards the Steelers, which is tied with Tom Brady for essentially the most towards Pittsburgh in NFL historical past.
Flacco and Rodgers gave us a historic duel on Thursday evening: The matchup marked simply the second pairing ever of two quarterbacks over the age of 40. The one different time it occurred got here in 2020 when Brady and Drew Brees performed one another thrice whereas enjoying for the Buccaneers and Saints.
Rodgers threw for 249 yards and 4 touchdowns, however he additionally threw two interceptions within the loss.
