Tomorrow's game is so big, they're breaking out the ketchup bottles at Heinz Field. By February, the Steelers hope they trade them for champagne bottles.
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The Titans have won seven in a row against the Steelers, including a 9-7 victory last November in Nashville when Al Del Greco kicked a 29-yard field goal with four seconds remaining. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) |
The Steelers had once grown accustomed to playing meaningful games at home, many against tomorrow night's foe, Tennessee. Monday night games, Sunday night games, showdown games, playoff games, AFC championship games. They came and went in the 1990s like coal barges up and down the Mon.
Then, the lights went out. The Steelers missed the playoffs the past three seasons and Three Rivers Stadium became a tomb that buried the home team under a 6-10 record over the stadium's final two seasons of existence.
The team got so bad that even "Monday Night Football" dropped them after 10 consecutive years without a miss, including three years when they were on the maximum three times.
Tomorrow night, they're back. The Steelers officially christened Heinz Field Oct. 7 against Cincinnati, but this is the grand opening on the grand stage. The first-place Steelers, tied for the best record with Oakland at 4-1 in the AFC, take on Tennessee, the two-time defending Central Division champion.
Even Dennis Miller came back home for this one.
"The fans are going to be out of control," said Jerome Bettis, who has run that way through five games. "I expect it to be incredibly loud. We are 4-1, so we're giving them a reason to cheer. That's what we haven't done in the past, haven't given them a reason to be proud, to cheer, to be excited."
What's there not to like? Bettis vs. Eddie George, the two runners with the most yards in the NFL over the past five seasons. Steve McNair and Kordell Stewart, the most exciting low-rated passers in the league. Two teams that thrive on defense, even if the Titans, No. 1 a year ago, have lost their way. Great pass-rushers on both sides, with Tennessee's Jevon Kearse and the Steelers' Joey Porter and Jason Gildon.
In the 32nd and final year of existence for the AFC Central, the Steelers would like to reclaim their post as the dominant team in the division, which they've won a record 14 times.
"I think it's a great opportunity for us to beat the champs," Bettis said. "They won our division the last two years in row. In order for us to get where we want to get, they're the No. 1 team to beat, so we have to beat them."
Never mind that the Steelers haven't done so in the past seven tries or since September 1997. That's the last season the Steelers made the playoffs, reaching the AFC championship against Denver at Three Rivers Stadium.
"It is a big game, yes," defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen said. "But Monday night isn't the biggest thing; the biggest thing is they beat us seven straight times. We want to beat the Titans. They've been embarrassing us."
The Steelers have lent a hand.
In their third game last season, Pittsburgh had Tennessee beaten in Three Rivers Stadium until Jason Gildon sacked quarterback Neil O'Donnell and knocked him out of the game late in the fourth quarter. McNair, who did not start because of an injury, came on and completed three passes for 55 yards, including the 18-yard winner to Erron Kinney with 1:25 left.
Six weeks later in Nashville, the Steelers had the lead with the clock on their side. But the Titans converted a fourth-and-8 on the way to a field goal with four seconds left to win, 9-7.
Had they split those games, the Steelers would have made the playoffs.
"That's something we continue to stress -- finish the game, finish the game, finish the game," cornerback Dewayne Washington said.
The Titans, who reached the Super Bowl after the 1999 season, put themselves in the position the Steelers were in 2000 with an 0-3 start. They won their past two, but the Titans have left themselves little room for error.
"You need to start fast as Pittsburgh has done because then you can just play through the middle part of your schedule and it takes a lot of pressure off you week-in and week-out," Tennessee Coach Jeff Fisher said.
"We're in a paramount struggle," said Titans General Manager Floyd Reese.
The Steelers have never beaten the Titans. The last time they won, they were the Tennessee Oilers.
"It seems like all of a sudden they turned into the Titans," Stewart said. "When they were the Oilers, we pretty much had their number."
They would like to start dialing it tomorrow night.
"This is a good time, in front of millions of people, to finally show the fans and our colleagues that we mean business," Steelers safety Lee Flowers said. "We're a team that, when the lights turn on, we're going to come out and play. It's an opportunity for guys like Jerome. A lot of people don't get to really see him run the ball. He really gets to showcase his skills throughout the country.
"But as far as I'm concerned, you could put us in a closet and play. As long as we win the game, I'm fine with it. We're just trying to bring the winning back to this city and get back to the playoffs and have the mystique in the air right now."
Prime time 'Monday Night Football' returns to Pittsburgh 
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