PITTSBURGH — And now it's on to ... the offseason?
A funny thing happened on the way to the Steelers' much-anticipated rematch with the Patriots in the AFC Championship.
Actually, it wasn't all that funny. For the players that stepped onto the frozen turf at Heinz Field Sunday afternoon, it was a painful experience. It was an embarrassing reminder that you don't count your chickens until they're hatched.
Jacksonville's supposedly punchless offense scored five touchdowns and the defense added another as the Jaguars stunned the Steelers, 45-42, here in an AFC Divisional Playoff game, ending Pittsburgh's postseason run and denying the football world the rematch everyone wanted to see.
Everyone, it seems, except the Jaguars.
"They were mad. They were ready," said Steelers All-Pro guard David DeCastro. "It seemed like they were ready."
The Jaguars, who will now travel to New England next Sunday, were apparently upset regarding comments made by Steelers safety Mike Mitchell over three weeks ago to MMQB's Greg Bishop regarding a rematch with the Patriots.
"We're going to play [the Patriots] again. We can play them in hell, we can play them in Haiti, we can play them in New England. ... We're gonna win," Mitchell told the website.
"It's embarrassing," DeCastro said. "It just blows my mind. (Jacksonville) beat us 30-9 (earlier this season). We played like crap. You want to talk about New England? I don't know what to say about that. It's stupid. It's just not what you do. You don't need to give a team like that bulletin-board material."
While DeCastro clearly was blaming Mitchell for the comments, Ramon Foster was a bit more diplomatic. He blamed everyone's favorite target, the media.
"We didn't talk about New England. I know it rubbed them wrong," Foster said of the Jaguars. "They were out there talking about it. Good job by the media for painting that picture. That (stuff) was said weeks ago. We weren't looking forward to (New England). We knew what we had in front of us."
And now they know what they have behind them. That would include a 13-3 season with more ups, downs and plot twists than a daytime soap opera. That would include playing through the loss of owner Dan Rooney and a devastating injury to teammate Ryan Shazier.
It also would include a pair of losses to the Jaguars, who over the course of four quarters -- the second half of their Oct. 8 meeting and the first half of Sunday's game -- outscored the Steelers, 51-14.
This team had put together multiple comebacks this season. It had won four games in a five-game stretch on Chris Boswell field goals in the final minute. But there would be no miracle ending in this game.
The Steelers can downplay what was said about the Patriots. They can say they weren't looking past the Jaguars, and that's true. You don't overlook an opponent who beat you handily in the regular season. You just don't.
But that doesn't mean the Jaguars didn't believe that.
"Any time you call a guy out, you got to expect a fight," said Jacksonville defensive end Calais Campbell. "There's going to be a fight because we feel like we belong here. We worked hard to be here in this moment. We feel like nobody worked harder than us, so we feel we are deserving."
In other words, they played the Hines Ward, nobody-gave-us-a-chance card. And it worked.
Was that because Mitchell made a statement three weeks ago?
Perhaps. But that statement didn't cost the Steelers this game. They didn't overlook the Jaguars. They were beaten by the better team -- again -- on Sunday.
"We weren't who we were supposed to be today," said Foster.
The Jaguars had something to do with that.
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