RICHMOND, Va. -- What a difference a decade makes.In doing a little research for this strip, I dug up the December 22, 1969 edition of The Pittsburgh Press to check out the coverage of the game…and man, it was BRUTAL.
Written with sardonic aplomb by Pat Livingston, the mindset was clear; the Steelers were expected to lose this game, and they did, just as they were expected to lose the last week’s game, and the next year’s opener, and seemingly every game yet to come. They were the “Same Old Steelers”, putrid and pitiable for most of their near 40-year existence, and from the tone of the article, it seemed inconceivable that that would ever change.
I often wonder what it must have been like for the veteran sportswriters in town, how the old-timers who’d watched the Steelers lose and lose and lose for decades must have felt as coach Chuck Noll led the team to it’s astonishing streak of success in the seventies. I wonder what they’d think if you told them that the Steelers were about to treat the city to, with a few exceptions, a 50-year run of winning seasons, and never finish a campaign with fewer than five wins over that span. I’m sure they’d never have believed it.
And in a season like this one, where things often seem to be going off the rails and falling apart, it’s helpful to remember that this team is going to be fine. And it probably won’t even take a decade to get there.
ROB ULLMAN / DKPS
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