The Steelers lost their third game in a row on Sunday, which is itself as much of an indictment of Pittsburgh’s coaching staff and players as it is a grim memento of just how quickly and unceremoniously good seasons—perhaps even very good ones—can dematerialize. What intensified the enormity of this loss, though, was that the Raiders, the team who vanquished the Steelers, are not only very bad—they entered Sunday’s proceedings at 2-10—but are actively tanking their season. Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, who is in the first year of a ten-year, $100 million contract, has made it flatly apparent that he’s playing the long game by flipping established stars for nebulous draft capital, so at this point it actually behooves him to continue losing games so as to goose his team’s draft fortunes.
Steelers Stock Report: See whose stock is rising, and falling, after the team’s loss to the Raiders
