Conspiracy theory: Belichick pulls a Mornhinweg on purposeh

The Steelers don’t have anyone to blame but themselves if they don’t make the playoffs, but their fans will talk about conspiracy theories for years if they miss for the third time in four years.

As the Steelers were walking off the field after losing to the Ravens Sunday afternoon the New York Jets leapfrogged them in the AFC playoff standings after a bizarre series of events at the Meadowlands. The Patriots, who were fighting for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, scored a touchdown to tie the score with 1:55 remaining.

The game went to overtime, and the Patriots won the toss. But instead of electing to receive the kickoff Patriots coach Bill Belichick instructed his captains to kick. The Jets then drove the length of the field and won the game when they scored a touchdown.

Belichick defended his decision after the game, but it was one of the dumbest moves of his coaching career. Unless, of course, he did it to make sure the Steelers missed the playoffs.

It’s hard to fathom Belichick throwing a game when a No. 1 seed remained in play, but I was reminded of the quote Steelers guard Ramon Foster gave me a few weeks ago. I was writing about tiebreakers and Foster recalled the final weekend of the 2013 season when the Steelers needed the Chiefs to beat the Chargers when the Chiefs had no incentive to win the game.

Chiefs kicker Ryan Succop missed a 41-yard field at the end of regulation, and the Chargers won in overtime. 

“We can’t depend on other teams to get us in,” Foster said. “A lot of teams don’t like us. To this day, I think the guy from Kansas City did that on purpose.”

Now there will be more conspiracy theories about 2015. ,And making the story line juicier, it’s Belichick at the center of the controversy. It would be a fitting end to a season that started with so much controversy in New England. It all started with Headset Gate and could end with Coin Toss Gate. 

Counting on the Bills

The Steelers can still make the playoffs in two scenarios. Both include beating the Browns Sunday. In addition to that they either need to Jets to lose in Buffalo or for the Broncos to lose their final two against the Bengals and the Chargers.

The easiest scenario is for the Bills to beat the Jets at home. They beat the Jets in New Jersey, 22-17, in November. That was in the midst of a stretch when the Jets lose four of five. Since losing to the Houston Texans on Nov. 22, the Jets have won five in a row.

The Bills have been eliminated from the playoffs, but they are coached by Rex Ryan, who would love nothing more than to end the Jets’ season with a loss and knock them out of the playoffs. Ryan was fired by the Jets after last season.

Double digits not good enough

No matter what happens on the final weekend of the season a 10-6 team will miss the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. The Steelers are poised to be that hard-luck team this season, but it could be the Jets or Broncos, too.

Remember when everyone was saying at midseason 9-7 would probably get a team from the AFC into the playoffs? I guess those people weren’t counting on the Chiefs winning nine in a row and the Jets winning five in a row.

And remember, the Steelers had a chance to bury the Chiefs when they were 1-5. The Steelers decided to hold out Ben Roethlisberger one more week as he recovered from his knee injury. Landry Jones started, and the Steelers moved the ball early, but they failed to score touchdowns.

Final score: Chiefs 23, Steelers 13. If the Steelers miss the playoffs, it’s one of many games they will look back on at season’s end and wonder what if?

What happened to the elite quarterbacks?

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Alex Smith, AJ McCarron and Brock Osweiler. Other than Tom Brady, they could be the five quarterbacks to start playoff games in the AFC. The Steelers’ $100 million quarterback the Steelers signed in March could miss for the third time in four years.

That can’t sit well with the Rooney family. Injuries hurt the Steelers this season, but they controlled their fate and failed to beat a 10-loss team.

The famed 2004 quarterback class of Roethlisberger, Eli Manning and Phillip Rivers could be shut out of the playoffs.

Meanwhile in Cincinnati, Houston, New York, Kansas City and Denver, they’re preparing for playoff runs with stop-gap quarterbacks.

Left tackle in question

The Steelers have an unsettled situation at left tackle heading into the offseason no matter what happens in the regular-season finale. Alejandro Villanueva gave up two more sacks against the Ravens. It was the third time this season he’s allowed up multiple sacks in a game.

Kelvin Beachum, the starting left tackle to begin the season, sustained a season-ending knee injury in October. Beachum will become an unrestricted free agent this winter if the Steelers don’t sign him.

Here’s an idea that might work out for both sides. Sign Beachum to a one-year contract and let him prove he can be their long-term answer at left tackle.

At this point, it would be a big leap of faith for the front office to crown Villanueva as the left tackle of the future. He remains very raw and isn’t very consistent with his fundamentals.

Beachum is coming off a major injury and might not command a long-term deal from another team. A one-year deal for $4 million might make sense for both sides.