The Pittsburgh Steelers continued their best start to a season in franchise history on Sunday by improving their record to 10-0 with a blowout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Talk of an undefeated season is slowly starting to creep in, but veteran tight end Eric Ebron insists the team is not concerned about it.
Ebron told reporters on Monday that the Steelers are “not tripping” over whether or not they will lose a game. He said they have already made franchise history and would rather lose now than in the postseason.
“That’s why we don’t talk about it, we don’t care that we’re 10-0,” Ebron said, via Christopher Carter of DK Pittsburgh Sports. “We have one purpose, and that’s to win a Super Bowl. We don’t care what people say.”
You could easily make the argument that an undefeated regular season is not worth the storyline that comes along with it. Obviously, the 2007 New England Patriots are the best example of that. They steamrolled through the regular season and playoffs, only to lose to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl in one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Had they not gone undefeated to that point, it’s entirely possible the Patriots would have felt less pressure and played better.
The Steelers’ remaining schedule is not exactly a gauntlet. They face the Baltimore Ravens at home on Thursday night before finishing the year against Washington, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Cleveland. They should be favored in all of those games barring a key injury or unexpected collapse.
Of course, undefeated seasons are rare in part because teams rest their starters when they have nothing to play for late in the year. It remains to be seen how Mike Tomlin will handle that situation if it arises, but the coach seemed to make it clear he doesn’t care about a perfect season with a funny remark he made following Sunday’s win.
