Steelers win, but at what price?

I'm not usually very superstitious about sports. But one thing that just has an alarming consistency is the Madden Curse. If you're unfamiliar, every player that appears of the cover of the year's Madden game gets injured the following season. And this year, Troy Polamalu was on the cover of Madden 2010.

Polamalu out 3-6 weeks with an MCL sprain. That's a huge blow to this defense. And that couldn't have been more evident than when Kerry Collins picked apart the Steelers D in the last minute of the half and Justin Gage scored a TD. Justin Gage? Are you serious?

Though that brings me to the point that the Steelers' two minute drill is as lethal as ever (Yeah, Ward fumbled, but that's his first fumble since maybe his high school days so I'll give him that one). Of course, watching Ben carve up the Tennessee secondary late in the game reminds us all of the offensive success that eludes the Steelers on the ground.

News flash: The offensive line still sucks. No one could run. Moore, Parker, and Mendenhall all finished with maybe the worst rushing stats they could. Everyone who keeps saying that Rashard Mendenhall isn't living up to his hype is pretty much ignoring the O-line. Unless your name starts with Barry and ends with Sanders, you have to have blocking to get yards. You might get lucky once or twice, but when three defenders just walk right past your linemen, you're going to spend a lot of time on the ground.

So now that I've told you everything you already know, let's discuss something no Steeler fan wants to admit: The Steelers probably should have lost that game. Remember Rob Bironas missing two FGs from 31 and 37? Those are so makable it's unbelievable that he missed two. If he makes either, Tennesse wins 13-10 with no OT. How lucky are the Steelers that one of the league's better kickers missed two easy ones? But hey. A win is a win is a win. All that matters is that the Steelers are a game and a half ahead of Tennessee in the AFC. That could be big later in the season.

Let's also give some major props to Mike Wallace for wrestling the 3rd WR spot from Limas Sweed. I really didn't expect much from him this season, and I thought I'd be right when I saw Ben throw a ball way too short and Wallace didn't adjust to the route. He could have pretty easily come back to the pass, but he didn't and I figured, "Oh well, he's a rookie." But then he made up for it when he came with a big (though admittedly not incredibly complicated) catch in overtime to pretty much seal a successful FG and a win.

Bit of an area of concern: Seemed like a few too many defenders just forgot how to tackle. Hoping that's just first-game rust and it'll wear off in a hurry.

Next week we've got the Bears. I still don't know what to really expect yet from the Bears' offense with Jay Cutler at the helm, but I think we can safely assume Willie Parker won't get a 100-yard game with three TDs. If the defense adjusts to the loss of Polamalu and they just start tackling a little bit better, Pittsburgh should win another ugly, low-scoring game.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

Here We Go.