Was Losing Troy Polamalu a Blessing in Disguise for the Steelers?

Before you say that I must be crazy, hear me out.

During the first half of the opening night contest against the Tennessee Titans, Troy Polamalu was an absolute monster. He was a one-man wrecking machine and looked like he was well on his way to Defensive MVP, and possibly MVP of the league.

Near the end of the first half, Polamalu injured his knee recovering a blocked kick, knocking him out of every game since. There are rumors that he will return to play against the Lions, or possibly the following week against the Browns.

Over the last three weeks, Steelers fans have watched something that they never thought they would see: a struggling defense.

Over the last three weeks, the Steelers have dominated the first three quarters of games against the Bears, Bengals, and against the Chargers. In all three games, the defense allowed the opposition to get back into the game and allowed both the Bears and Bengals to steal the victory.

Sunday night, against the Chargers, it was almost the same thing.

Some people may claim that the defense is looking old, while others are saying that they are not prepared. I say Dick LeBeau is playing soft because Polamalu is not in the game.

The reason that the Steelers dominate the first three quarters is simple: They play Steeler football. But once it gets to crunch time, they go back to playing prevent, and without Troy in the secondary, teams are exposing the weakness.

Once Polamalu returns from injury, we will once again see the Steelers defense blitzing from all over the field, and once again, the Steelers defense will dominate.

There is one thing that Steeler fans learned Sunday night, and that is something that should scare the rest of the NFL: The Steelers offense can put some points on the board.

I am not saying that the Chargers defense is the best in the league, not by any stretch of the imagination. But Pittsburgh's offense put 38 points on the board, totaling 497 yards. Those are great numbers against any team.

Rushing, short passes, intermediate passes, long passes—Bruce Arians called them all, and the Steelers executed them to near perfection.

It took losing against the Bears and Bengals to see that our offense did not need to sit on a lead and hope to win. It showed that when the Steelers need to put points on the board, they are more than able to do so.

Now, imagine this: Pittsburgh starts putting 30 points on the board per game, and when Polamalu returns, the defense regains last year's form and becomes dominant again.

Scary thought, huh? Especially if you don't own a Terrible Towel.

If anything, Ben Roethlisberger has shown that he is one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL, and once he has a defense to back him up, this is going to be a fun team to watch.

So, maybe losing Polamalu did cost the Steelers two games. But what they learned about themselves could be priceless.