If you've been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan for a while, then you have experienced some extreme highs and some extreme lows. It truly is part of the business of being a fan and the lows make the highs even sweeter. One of the lows that stands out was the 2013 regular season game in London, England against the Minnesota Vikings.
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Steelers CB Cortez Allen misses a tackle on Vikings WR Greg Jennings in a preseason game in London in 2013.
The Steelers of 2013 were stacked with talent. That roster read like a who's who of exceptional players, including Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, Heath Miller, Ramon Foster, Brett Keisel, Troy Polamalu, Ryan Clark and so many more. This had expectations high from both the players and the fans.
Former Steelers OG Ramon Foster Relives Dreadful London Game
Foster was a former Steelers offensive guard and was on the team in 2013. He now co-hosts a podcast on DK Pittsburgh Sports with reporter Dejan Kovacevic called The Ramon Foster Show. They were recently asked about that London game and how a team with that much talent craps the bed the way they did. According to Foster, they might have let their own egos get in the way.
"Being full of yourself a little bit, thinking you can just roll the ball out. Y'all seen that stuff, 'Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work.' Guys sometimes know when they are good. We knew we had good offenses, we knew we could just get the job done."
That game felt like a surefire win headed into it despite the fact that the team was already 0-3. The Vikings were in the same boat, also 0-3, but they won the game 34-27 at Wembley Stadium. Minnesota was the underdog, playing without their starting quarterback and Matt Cassel filling in. Bell was a rookie that year and excitement surrounded his potential. Everyone saw a win in London as a way to get the team back on track.
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Vikings backup QB Matt Cassel made a name for himself in a game against the Steelers in 2013.
While there were a lot of big plays on both sides, the Steelers lost when Roethlisberger, who played a solid game, fumbled the ball in the red zone with only a few seconds left. However, they got down early and just couldn't dig their way back out. A big part of the problem was the offensive line, Roethlisberger got sacked five times. Mike Adams, an offensive tackle, who was considered one of the best in college, was in his second season and appeared to be portraying a turnstile in that game.
The Steelers ended up starting the season 0-4 for the first time in as long as anyone could remember. And the mood in London and all over Steeler Nation was as low as it's been in the modern era of football. Kovacevic was in London covering the game and said that it was the first and only time in all his years covering the Steelers that he saw any kind of vulnerability from Head Coach Mike Tomlin.
"[Tomlin's] press conference in London was as close as he came to looking like a train wreck. He could not believe all that talent was 0-4. He was super polite with all the answers, no barking, which right off the bat told me something was off. He held the door for us on the way in and as each one of us passed through the door, he would say, 'Thank you for coming to cover this.'"
Kovacevic said that the media really did fly halfway around the world and Tomlin felt this responsibility that everyone had been let down by the frustrating loss that was hard to pinpoint. He said that kind of reaction from Tomlin was a first and he has never seen it again, not after any other loss.
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Steelers Head Coach, Mike Tomlin, was frustrated by the team's performance in London in 2013.
Foster said that the team ended up a disappointing 8-8 that season, missing the playoffs by an inch. He said you name all of that talent and they weren't just names that were washed up or old, they were in their prime and they just weren't clicking. He said Tomlin had some choice words for the team in the locker room.
"We crapped the bed in preseason, we crapped the bed the first start of the season and in that locker room that day, Coach T really let it lay out, 'Whenever we get back to the mainland some stuff is going to change. We're gonna be in a position where we don't ever have this feeling again. Is it an impossible feat? No, but look at the hole that you bleepers have dug for yourselves' is how it went down," said Foster.
It couldn't be blamed on one position said Foster, it wasn't bad coaching, for example. He said sometimes there was a sack, it was bad defense, it was bad offense, kickers couldn't make it, the timing of their flight to head to London. All of those factors had a role to play and it created a perfect storm of destruction and the team just couldn't get it together.
Foster reminded everyone the team bounced back in 2014. While they went 1-3 in the preseason, they went 11-5 when it mattered, clinching their first winning season since 2011. They also clinched a playoff spot with a Week 16 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. They won the AFC North division title, but lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card game.
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During the days of the Steelers' elite offensive trio, touted the Killer B's, the defense became one of the worst in football.
That group did come back with a vengeance, setting records including the most points scored by a Steelers team at 436. The Killer B's were born as they became the first NFL team to have a 4,500-yard passer, a 1,500-yard receiver, and a 1,300-yard rusher in the same season.
Do you remember the 2013 season? Was it your lowest moment as a fan? Click to comment below.
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