Steelers fans survive emotional upheaval of Sunday playoff drama

Not since Jerome Bettis fumbled the ball at the Indianapolis one-yard line near the end of a playoff game against the Colts, have Steelers fans had to endure such mental torture.

Though it seemed like an eternity, the Steelers only had to survive just over a minute on the clock and a missed 47-yard field goal attempt to win that 2005 AFC divisional playoff game, 21-18.

What happened Sunday was a daylong ordeal — that carried over into the next day. Steelers fans gathering for lunch Monday on Pittsburgh’s North Shore won’t soon forget it.

As if the Steelers’ dramatic Ben Roethlisberger-led come-from-behind 16-13 overtime victory over Baltimore combined with 3-14 Jacksonville’s improbable 26-11 win over the seemingly playoff-bound Colts weren’t enough, a late night Chargers-Raiders game nearly ended in a tie — the only result that could have kept the Steelers out of the playoffs.

And it would have happened if not for a 47-yard field goal kicked by Las Vegas’ Daniel Carlson to win the game 35-32 as time expired in overtime. Talk about tension. If the Raiders chose not to kick the field goal, or missed it, the Steelers would have been eliminated from the postseason.

As the game marched toward midnight with Ben Roethlisberger’s Cinderella story about to turn into a pumpkin, some Steelers fans slept through it. Others had a hard time sleeping at all.

“The range of emotions was high yesterday. It went from surprised to angry at times to just elated,” said Ray Vrabel, 41, of Franklin Park, of the Steelers’ win over Baltimore combined with Jacksonville’s victory, which seemingly locked up the Steelers postseason spot. Like other Steelers fans, he couldn’t have anticipated what was to come in the Chargers-Raiders Sunday night game.

“The Raiders went up 29-14 and missed a 2-point conversion, so now I’m like: ‘There can never be a tie,’ ” said Vrabel while enjoying a beer sampler with his girlfriend Kelly Herman, 40, of Fair Oaks, at Mike’s Beer Bar on Federal Street.

“Then to see them tie it up was infuriating. I was screaming, ‘This has to be a sick joke. I am going to throw up,’ ” said Vrabel, who was texting back and forth with his brother. “We all kind of gave up.”

Ray Vrabel was screaming so loud at the end of last night's Raiders-Chargers game that he woke up his girlfriend Kelly Herman. I'm listening to Steelers fans stories about yesterday's excruciating road to the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/us81TTEYpa

— Paul Guggenheimer (@PGuggenheimer) January 10, 2022

Herman said she fell asleep in the third quarter of the late game only to be awakened when Vrabel started screaming.

“I had more fun watching him and his reaction and wondering if I’m going to have to call 911 ‘cause he’s going to have a heart attack,” said Herman.

In the end, it all worked out. Barely.

“It was fun,” she said. “It felt good to be a Steelers fan.”

Sitting at a table not far from Vrabel and Herman, Andrew Cipro, 36, of Pittsburgh, said he thought it would have been enough for him to see Roethlisberger’s career simply end on such a triumphant note in Baltimore.

“I thought it was awesome to see Big Ben break the tie with (Drew) Brees and (Peyton) Manning to have another fourth-quarter comeback and be second all-time. I thought that would have been an awesome way to go out,” said Cipro.

But then the idea of Roethlisberger not getting one more shot at the playoffs because of an unlikely tie between the Chargers and Raiders began to bother him.

“I started to get pretty sad. They fought so hard to win in Baltimore and then to have that taken from them would have been bad. Truthfully, I thought John Madden was getting revenge for the Immaculate Reception,” Cipro said. “I think Steelers fans owe (Chargers coach) Brandon Staley a Christmas gift because he called a timeout with (38) seconds in the game and that allowed the Raiders to have a chance to kick the field goal to win the game.”

Next door at the North Shore Tavern, Terri Galonka, 58, of Hanover Township, said after the Steelers beat Baltimore and Jacksonville won, “my husband said ‘they’re in.’ And I said, ‘Well, isn’t there something else that has to happen later?’ And he said ‘Yeah in the night game there can’t be a tie, but that’s not going to happen.’ At eleven o’clock at night we’re watching the game and I took a Benadryl to go to sleep and then the game got exciting and I had to stay up and watch the whole game.”

Galonka said it was worth it. She’s now planning a party for next Sunday night when the Steelers play Kansas City in a first-round playoff game.

“We’re excited. The Steelers are lucky to be in this position, but we’re very happy,” she said.

Added Galonka’s friend Annette Iannetti, 59, of Hanover Township, “They’re coming on at the right time.”