With the 2022 NFL season nearing its end and the conference championships on deck, Steelers fans are reminiscing of the good old days.
Monday marks the 12-year anniversary of the last time Pittsburgh hosted and won the AFC Championship Game. The Steelers defeated the Jets 24-19 on this day in 2011.
The game was a tale of two halves. Pittsburgh scored the first 24 points of the game and led 24-3 at halftime. New York came storming back, scoreing the last 19 points, but still fell short.
Both teams boasted balanced rosters in the matchup. The Steelers were led by the likes of QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Rashard Mendenhall and LB James Harrison. The Jets were led by QB Mark Sanchez, WR Santonio Holmes and CB Darrelle Revis.
The Steelers went on to lose 31-25 in Super Bowl XLV to the Packers, but fans have been waiting for some time now to even reach that point of the postseason again.
Pittsburgh has gone 3-8 in the postseason since that AFC Championship Game and has only made it to one other conference championship, in the 2016 season, when the team lost 36-17 to the Patriots. The Steelers have also lost their last four playoff games.
Pittsburgh seems to have its fair share of young and talented players, but the Steelers will have to wait until next season to try to make the playoffs and, just maybe, go on a run to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2010 season.
