Steelers kept their composure during chaos

CINCINNATI – There’s a finality to the playoffs that, more often than not, brings out the best in some players. It also can bring out the worst.
We saw both on display Saturday night at Paul Brown Stadium.
The Steelers’ AFC Wild Card playoff victory against Cincinnati featured more drama than the best movie Hollywood has produced in decades.
It wasn’t far from being more violent, too. And that’s all many want to talk about in the aftermath.
In the week leading up to the game, both the Steelers and Bengals said there wouldn’t be any of the shenanigans that took place in their previous meeting. The NFL dealt nearly $150,000 worth of fines after that one.
For much of the first half, that was the case.
Yes, there were some random incidents, but they were nothing compared to what would come later.
After Ryan Shazier knocked out Cincinnati running back Giovanni Bernard with a legal hit – by NFL standards – forcing a fumble the Steelers linebacker recovered, Cincinnati’s fans lost their cool. The play was initially ruled an incompletion, but Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin challenged the call and it was overturned and ruled a fumble.
Apparently, unaware of NFL rules regarding helmet-to-helmet contact when a pass catcher becomes a runner, Cincinnati’s fans began littering the field with bottles and anything else they could throw.
Call that any number of things you want. Classy shouldn’t be one of them.
That only appeared to make noted Cincinnati cheap-shot artist Vontaze Burfict feel he had free reign to do whatever he wanted.
Football players are often viewed as dumb jocks. Neither Burfict nor Cincinnati cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones is going to change that perception. Together, they cost Cincinnati its first playoff victory in 25 years.
Burfict is a fabulous football player. But there’s a reason he went unselected in the NFL draft. For every good play he makes, he seemingly makes two bad plays.
“The thing is, if you watch him, he’s a talented football player,” said Steelers safety Mike Mitchell, who knows a little something about going over the edge at times. “He’s just, uh, a little extra.”
We saw that after the Steelers took possession after the Bernard fumble.
Burfict sacked Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on third down, driving him shoulder-first into the turf. It was a clean play. But as he got up off Roethlisberger, video clearly showed him driving his knee into Roethlisberger’s right shoulder.
It’s unlikely that caused Roethlisberger’s shoulder separation. But that’s Burfict, always a little extra.
Without Roethlisberger – who was pelted with garbage by cheering fans as he was carted to the locker room – the momentum clearly shifted.
Down 15-0, the Bengals stormed back and took a 16-15 lead. And Burfict appeared to seal a win with an interception of backup quarterback Landry Jones.
But Shazier forced a fumble and the Steelers recovered. With the season on the line, Roethlisberger re-entered the game with Pittsburgh backed up on its own 9-yard line with 1:23 remaining.
It was obvious the injured Roethlisberger couldn’t throw the ball more than 10 yards down the field, but he willed the Steelers to midfield.
With just 22 seconds remaining, Roethlisberger attempted a pass over the middle to Antonio Brown. Burfict attempted to remove Brown’s head from his body, hitting the Pittsburgh wide receiver as he landed after leaping for the errant pass. Burfict’s shoulder hit Brown directly in the head.
Unlike Shazier’s hit on Bernard, Brown had no chance to protect himself. He was knocked unconscious and Burfict was penalized 15 yards, moving the Steelers into field-goal range.
As doctors tended to Brown, players from both teams milled about on the field. Some coaches went on the field out of concern for Brown.
Assistant coaches are not permitted on the field but game officials allowed it in this case because the hit on Brown had been so vicious.
Nobody told Jones, who has had more off-field issues than perhaps any player in the history of football.
Steelers linebackers coach Joey Porter is no saint. Perhaps he said something to Jones as he was walking off the field after checking on Brown.
But so what if he did?
Even the worst insult wouldn’t have justified Jones’ actions. He went after Porter, running at him and into an official. Running into the official drew another 15-yard penalty.
That turned a 49-yard field goal attempt into a 35-yard chip shot for Chris Boswell, sending the Steelers on to Denver next weekend and the Bengals into an offseason in which they can reflect on what happened.
Jones, who did not speak to reporters after the game, took to social media on his way home. In an expletive-filled rant, he took no blame for anything that happened, cursing the game’s officials, Porter and saying Brown had taken a dive.
At no time did he take any blame for what had occurred. Neither did Burfict.
And that’s the problem right now in Cincinnati. Players such as Burfict and Jones have run amok and it has put head coach Marvin Lewis in a bad spot.
“I think it’s an unfortunate set of circumstances at the end of the game,” said Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth. “You have to have better control than that, for sure.”
But the Bengals didn’t. They couldn’t control their emotions. It cost them dearly.
Lewis is truly one of the good guys in football. The McDonald native is the definition of a player’s coach.
After the Bengals’ latest failure, however, he’s 0-7 in the postseason.
If he wants to shake the moniker of playoff choker,then Lewis should clean out the lockers of Burfict and Jones and get them out of Cincinnati.
To quote Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.” And continuing to employ bozos such as Burfict and Jones is, well, stupid.
The Steelers don’t have a better roster than Cincinnati, which might be the most talented team in the league.
What the Steelers did was keep their composure better than the Bengals, especially Burfict and Jones.
And that led to a victory for the visitors.
F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.