Steelers, Pirates, Penguins Downturns Give Fans Little To Cheer About

PITTSBURGH, PA — If you're a Pittsburgh sports fan these days, times are as dark as it now gets at 6 p.m. with the return of daylight standard time. All of the city's professional and college teams are playing at a less-than-acceptable level to those living in a place once dubbed the "City of Champions."

The Pirates stank this season. The Steelers stink this season. The Penguins are providing every indication that they, too, will stink. Pitt's football program is underachieving and the university's basketball program is, well, a perpetually burning dumpster fire:

How bad are things: Consider this about the teams for which you root:

Steelers

The team is emerging from its bye week in last place in the AFC North with a 2-6 record. They are 31st out of 32 teams in scoring, averaging just 15 points per game. Their leading rusher, Najee Harris, has one touchdown after eight games. Their leading receiver, Diontae Johnson, has yet to find the end zone this season.

If you think this is part of the rebooting process following Ben Roethlisberger's retirement, consider this: Since 2012, the Steelers have just three playoff wins and have lost their most recent playoff games by scores of 42-21, 48-37, 45-42 and 36-17.

Pirates

A once-proud Major League Baseball franchise has become a national joke. Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley, now a Boston Red Sox analyst said this about the team in August: “This is a hodgepodge of nothingness. It's ridiculous, it really is. Pathetic."

It's difficult to refute that. The Pirates now have had consecutive back-to-back 100 loss seasons since the first time since the 1950s. Their last World Series title occurred in 1979. Their last division title happened in 1992. Their last playoff appearance occurred in 2015, as a wild card team. They have had four winning seasons in the last 30 years.

To put it more succinctly: They stink.

Penguins

The Pens have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for four consecutive seasons. Their aging corps of stars - Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Chris Letang - are in their mid-30s, ancient for professional hockey players. They are winless in their last seven games. Winning the Stanley Cup seems like a wholly unrealistic goal this year, and the long-term future seems bleak once their trio of best players retire in a few years. Other than that, everything is fine.

Pitt Football

After winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship last year thanks largely to the play of quarterback Kenny Pickett, the Panthers have reverted back to their semi-mediocre ways and currently sport a 5-4 record. Provided they reach the six-win minimum to qualify for a bowl birth, Pitt seems destined to play in something like the Giant Eagle Purified Water Bowl Bowl or a similar minor-league event existing only to provide ESPN with programming content in early December. Oh, and junior defensive end Dayon Hayes was arrested and charged with simple assault over the weekend.

Pitt Basketball

Once boasting one of the nation's most elite college programs, the Pitt program is a laughingstock. The Panthers have been picked by the Associated Press to finish 14th out of 15 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Now entering his fifth season in charge of the program, coach Jeff Capel brings with him a 51-69 record and has had three straights seasons of winning just six ACC games. Capel famously once said that he inherited a dumpster fire when he was named to succeed former coach Kevin Stallings; it seems that during Capel's tenure, he has done nothing but pour gasoline on the flames.