Joe Starkey

Fenway Sports Group sits atop the list of reasons why the Penguins are here today.

I don't know that that's arguable.

Back to the 89 Steelers, if you'll indulge me.

Steve Hubbard, here's what he really wrote.

They had a big surge, late surge in 89.

Not big.

but they won three of their last four games.

He said, "...their late surge did little to obscure the sad truth.

The Steelers, who are 26-37 over the last four seasons and managed only one win against a winning team in 88, are falling farther and farther behind their AFC Central competitors.

The talent gap is undeniable."

That's where the 89 Steelers were, and they made a run to the playoffs and won a game.

And until somebody gives me a better answer, I'm going to say this is the most unlikely playoff team around here since then.

Let me double down with you.

What Elliot Harrison wrote 10 years ago for NFL.com saying, Pittsburgh was thought to be nowheresville when it came to prognostifications for the AFC Central.

In 89?

In 89.

Any and every magazine that made predictions of the Steelers finishing dead last

There you go.

And people were saying that the game had passed Chuck Null by, and they lost 51 to zip to the Browns in, yes, the home opener.

And the siren became a bullhorn when Null's group fell to the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals, 41-10 the following week.