Should the Pittsburgh Steelers lose to the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night, it will mark just the eighth time since 1966 that they have started a season 0-2. However, according to a Monday morning post by ESPN, a winless Steelers team after the first two weeks hasn’t been a death knell in Pittsburgh over the course of the last 25 years.
Three of the last four times the Steelers have started 0-2 dating back to 1989, the team not only finished with a winning record, they also made the playoffs. The last time that this happened was in 2002 when the Steelers finished the season 10-6 after losing their first two games to the New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders.
In 1989 and 1993, the Steelers also started 0-2 and went on to record 9-7 seasons in both of those years on their way to Wild Card births.
2000 was the last time a Steelers team started the season winless after two games and that time a winning record of 9-7 wasn’t good enough for them to make the playoffs.
Judging by the way the other teams look right now in the AFC North to start the season, a 9-7 record might just win the division, so all hope shouldn’t be lost if the Steelers are unable to notch their first win of the 2013 season Monday night in Cincinnati.
