The Pomp And Joe Show
VICTORY MONDAY - Can the Steelers actually contend for the Super Bowl?
22 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What was the outcome of the Steelers vs. Lions game?
59-yard attempt. He's seven out of eight this year from beyond 50. Just superb. But 59, Boswell. How good is he? He is outstanding. Three on the board for the Steelers. State throws, and it's incomplete. Porter again denies the entry pass to St. Brown, and the Steelers take over on downs. What coverage by Pittsburgh. Not falling for the play fake. And Goff tries to make some work the middle.
Lions go to the end zone. And caught. What a catch. Tesla somehow held on to it. Rodgers off his back foot. Throws it down the way. And a flex coming out on Anzalone. And look at Gainwell. Gainwell thinks he has a touchdown. I mean, I don't think he was touched. I think this might be a touchdown, Jim. I mean, Gainwell thinks he has it. I'm not joking.
It looked like I was like, no, he's probably not. I'm like, wait a sec. Where his momentum was going. Third and eight, low snap.
Chapter 2: How did the Steelers' performance impact their Super Bowl chances?
Picks it up. In trouble. He's set for the safety. Duggar delivers the two-point play. Toss to Warren. Found a little opening, and away he goes! Jalen Warren with the touchdown!
Goal, 1-9-10-5! Touchdown Lions! What a fourth down play! Warren, already ripped off one long run! He's got another one!
No one's gonna get to him! Gibbs flanking the quarterback. Over to Gibbs, he's wide open. Easy touchdown. Lions are in. Can they pull it off with the season and the balance? Goff fires at the one. He didn't get across, but there are flags down. Ball ends up in the hand. Goff, he goes across.
Did they have a whistle first? Ruling on the field is a touchdown, however. Oh, my goodness. Number 14 on the offense. By rule, that penalty is not enforced, and there is no replay. The game is over. There is no touchdown.
Whoa.
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Chapter 3: What role does Aaron Rodgers play in the Steelers' success?
Charge. We're from the town with the great football team. Come on, Bob. We cheer the Pittsburgh Steelers. Come on, limits. Chuck Knott and all his friends are all on the team. Go out and get the Steelers. Bradshaw and Rocky and Franco and Lee. What about Scotty Miller? Ba-da, ba-da, ba-da. It's been many years in coming. Ba-da, ba-ba.
Just keep the Steeler machinery humming. Ba-da.
This better have a line about Dylan Cook in it now, Bob. Dylan Cook, Scotty Miller. Kyle Duggar. Duggar. Adam Thielen. Mark, Quez, Val, Dez, Scantlings. Let's not stop there. Logan Lee. I didn't know he didn't play. Welcome to Pump and Joe and Limits. Bob, it's a day to be happy. It's a day to be happy.
Man, I still can't get over good old Carl Sheffers as if he was on Impractical Jokers burying the lead with the call as millions waited for it, Bob. He says the ruling on the field is a touchdown. Touchdown, and the crowd goes nuts. However, pass interference number 14 on the offense.
Chapter 4: How did the Steelers' defense perform against the Lions?
Game is over. Drive home safely. Can you believe that that guy... I compared it yesterday to imagine if the Immaculate Reception went to a review and good old Carl Sheffers was on the review limits. He would have said something like, the Steelers scored a touchdown on the play and won the game. I mean, they would have won the game if the touchdown had counted.
The ruling on the field is a Steeler player touched the ball and the catch was made. No touchdown. History is altered forever. Sorry, everybody. Drive home safely. This is Carl Sheffers. That was unbelievable, Bob, that he buried that. I mean, when I heard it first said touchdown, I said, they're doomed. That's it. They're going to allow that play to exist. I never heard a whistle.
What about the one before that when it looked like St. Brown scored? And then if you're watching on TV, maybe if you're at the game, you see a discussion or a flag. I was starting to think ahead to Boswell, weren't you? Yes. How long can he kick a field goal here? 65? Is there time left to get in position for him to attempt a 70-yarder? Yeah. And all of a sudden, in comes the flag.
Bob, I'm about to say something that I haven't said in a long time. What is limits doing and why is he in our room again? Oh, it's the glare on your head or on my head, right?
Chapter 5: What offensive strategies contributed to the Steelers' victory?
Yes. Thank you very much, Austin. You're always looking out for us. What a wonderful man. And I have a Christmas gift here for you. Yeah, we're going to open these by the end of the segment because Bob's leaving early again. Wait a minute. You have an early dismissal last week. I heard. I know. I know. It was a later dismissal than yours is at 11 o'clock today, which makes everybody sad.
This whole season and Steeler football in general has been couched. into win a playoff game, and this will be a successful year. Same as last year, the year, just please, please just win a play, even be competitive in one, come close to winning one, but win one, and then we'll all define that as a success.
Bob, what I haven't heard much was the Steelers mentioned with this little phrase, and I'm sure you've heard of it because the guy in the song just sang about it, Super Bowl. I think that this team is capable of getting to the Super Bowl. I really do. It's a wide open AFC. It is a wide open AFC. I truly believe that. Ben said yesterday was going to, you know, sort of be the litmus test for him.
Pat Friermuth called it a statement game. Listen, the games happen. I don't give a crap if I was wrong three weeks ago. or two weeks ago, who cares? So was everybody else locally, nationally, you, me, him, everybody who calls the show, Dan Orlovsky and Colin Cowherd and Mike Greenberg and every single person.
I heard one human being after that Bills debacle say that the Steelers would bounce back at least one week. And that was Kyle Brandt saying they're going to come back and beat Baltimore. There was zero humans on the face of this planet who thought that the Steelers would bounce back and win three in a row and look like, yes, a Super Bowl contender.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of this win for the Steelers' playoff hopes?
Am I predicting it? Not quite yet, Bob. But this is the first time in a long time that I look at that team and say, I could actually see them in the Super Bowl. Bob? Well, the number one reason for that, more than anything else, is Aaron Rodgers, in my view. He gives them a credibility quarterback that they haven't had since Roethlisberger left.
He gives them a guy who can use his mind effectively. to get other teams in trouble when it comes to too many men on the field. He knows when to rush a play because a review may be coming, and the Steelers actually should have done that after Darnell Washington, except they tried to substitute and it killed that attempt. He's smart. He knows how to throw the ball.
And Joe, he's using some real estate that was only reserved for big high rollers, and that's the middle of the field. That's where you win football games. And I think all of us have been clamoring for more action in the middle of the field. He knows how to get it there. He's not afraid to get it there. Off his back feet, he'll throw it there. He'll put it on target.
All these things that a quarterback does, and all you have to do in those three games, if you doubt that he's the most important, is look at what they've done. Five touchdowns, no interceptions. He protects the ball. That's been his history. He doesn't turn it over. How about an 80% completion percentage against some very good teams? And he had to do it again yesterday.
Just elite quarterback play. And it starts there with me. Everything else falls into place. They've got a good running attack.
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Chapter 7: What historical comparisons can be drawn from the game?
They have some guys who can make plays on the outside. Not as many as I would like. They have a defense that proved yesterday in the first three quarters that even without two of its best players, they're still a high-end defense when they play the way they're capable. So... Yeah, they have every aspect that you would want for a team that's heading down the stretch.
And the most important thing is they're winning down the stretch, unlike last year where they went through five losses in a row and you can tell it was spiraling out of control. Yeah, the quarterback is the main reason, and he's on a heater. He is playing really well, but that starts, in my opinion, with his offensive line, which has been surprising. And then the defense yesterday.
By the way, you've got to give a little love to Arthur Smith. I thought he called a hell of a game yesterday. So did I. So did I. I haven't shown Arthur Smith a lot of love, but he kept them way off balance. Right after the Lions scored touchdowns late in the game, First play, you know, they're all geeked up, Bob, ready to make a play. The crowd's going crazy.
Both times, he called the old jet sweep, whatever you want to call it, reverse. Right. One to John, who was one to Gainwell, I think. I think Gainwell, yes. And totally caught them off balance both times. Did something special there out of the Pittsburgh plunge play and generally had them off balance. A lot of that's the quarterback, too. But the defense...
The defense, in some ways, was special in this game. And then the Lions got going. And that's the number one offense in the NFL scoring. So they got going. The defense got you a safety that essentially kept the game from going to overtime, held the highest scoring team in the league to a touchdown under its average, and put up a few numbers. And I haven't said this often.
And maybe I should quote Juan Thornhill here.
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Chapter 8: How do the hosts feel about the Steelers' future after this game?
These are numbers that the Steel Curtain would be proud of. Jameer Gibbs, who's great, had two yards on seven carries. Two yards on seven carries. 1,100 yards coming into the season. Their whole team, which is a great rushing team, had 15 yards on 12 carries. There is something to the Derek Harmon factor.
And why a black, both those guys make a huge difference, even when he's given, maybe especially when he's given the other team the finger, Bob. And yes, yes, the Lions came back and scored. And listen. Like so many moments and situations in sports history, and it's almost silly in a way. For me, I think of the Scott Norwood field goal.
As that ball is in the air, if it goes three feet to the left and through the uprights, then every narrative from both franchises' history is different. Yesterday, Detroit is at the Steelers' goal line. If they score there... and it looked like they might have twice, although I thought certainly the second one was a good call and the first one was debatable, whatever.
If they score there, then it's one of the great meltdowns of the Mike Tomlin era. One of the great meltdowns. What did it be, 103-0-1? 103-0-1. When they're leading by 11 in the last five. Some score where they've never blown a lead like that, ever. So the difference on those calls, on those plays, on that stand, was...
One of the great meltdowns of the Tomlin era or one of the wildest wins of the Tomlin era and the defining game of this season. So again, I don't want to get too crazy about it, Bob. And I think I might have come on here and said this, even if they lose, is that I was highly encouraged by so many things. That defense stinks, but you still go in there and drop almost 500 yards.
And what they did to that running game was eye-opening. It really was, and it shows you they're capable of stopping the best in the business. They did it to the Colts with Jonathan Taylor. They did it to the Bears. Now, they've also given up a ton. They did it to A-Chan, too. They've given up 200 yards to the Bills and the Ravens in back-to-back games.
So there are holes there, and things can go differently depending on scheme. But, yes, I give them more credit for just having a lot of heart yesterday and getting that one out and how they did it.
If you stop a run game, the one thing that Detroit was really good at, number two in the NFL coming into this game in play action down the field success, when you take away the play in the play action, which is the run game, it makes it a lot easier. They put up pressure in the middle.
They knew they were going to have some issues there because the Lions were without one of their best players at center. They had a lot of other things going on. I couldn't believe how unblocked at times Highsmith and Sawyer were on the outside. It was unreal with Highsmith. And then Duggar, who played all 74 snaps. Again, a guy like that they bring in from New England. And he plays all 74 snaps.
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