Column: They’ve ‘come a long way’ from London

Antonio Brown high-fives fans at Heinz Field after winning the AFC North Division title Sunday night. — GETTY

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

In the end, though it really wasn’t the end, there were as many sighs as smiles.

The Steelers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the franchise that once owned the AFC North Division, the franchise built on a foundation of defense and toughness and tenacity, made it back to that summit by borrowing from all three traits on this special Sunday night at Heinz Field and besting the Bengals, 27-17, in a mano-a-mano matchup for the title.

And yes, it was truly special. I choose the term advisedly. Because, like most of the men on this roster, I recall London all too vividly.

“Yeah, London,” Ramon Foster was saying at his stall after all the caps and T-shirts had been doled out, after all the whooping and hollering of a “very happy locker room,” as Mike Tomlin described the initial postgame celebration, had died down. “I remember London. A lot of us do. That was … man, that seems like forever ago now, doesn’t it?”

Sure does, but it stuck with you, too, I’m guessing.

The Steelers were 0-3 and somehow lost to the 0-3 Vikings at Wembley Stadium. They were winless through a quarter of the schedule and actually looked worse than that. They stunk. They were a bloody mess, as the natives would say. And the scene in the locker room … man, that’s something I’ll never let go: Tomlin stood uncomfortably in the doorway, thanking reporters as we entered for the first time any of us could remember. Ben Roethlisberger was an emotional mess, almost shaking as he spoke this: “Right now, you could say we’re the worst team in the league.” The Rooneys stood stoically in one corner rather than making the usual rounds to shake hands, win or lose. And poor Mike Adams, in the aftermath of being undone all day long by Minnesota’s Jared Allen, to the point it almost began to look like Adams was just getting out of the way … I’ll just respect the man and share that Adams was inconsolable.

Seems like forever ago, indeed.

But it wasn’t. It was just last year, the 29th of September to be precise. And all that’s followed since Tomlin, Roethlisberger, the rest of the Steelers and maybe even Adams left London behind, is that they finished 8-4 to salvage .500 and more than a little face, then carried that confidence through to going 11-5 this season and, now, reclaiming the AFC North.

You could write that off as the fickle nature of the parity-filled NFL.

You could complain about the bumpy flight it’s been along the way, including more Sunday in the form of Le’Veon Bell’s hyperextended knee, Roethlisberger throwing passes almost as sickly as his case of the flu, Tomlin’s fantastically boneheaded fake punt and a longer list than that.

You could worry, too, about how all of the above will impact the who-didn’t-see-this-coming playoff meeting with the Ravens next Saturday at Heinz.

But me, I’m going to push pause right here and applaud what it’s taken to regain this point.

And I’ll start with Foster …

Good stuff, huh?

Enjoy it, Pittsburgh. Enjoy it at least a little before all the Baltimore bashing and Bell monitoring and the endless loops of John Harbaugh’s most recent petulance consume us. Enjoy that this iconic team that represents our city’s face to the rest of the world finally can hold it high again.

“I’m proud, man. I am. I’m not going to lie, this feels good,” Cam Heyward was telling me. “We’ve been through a lot. We’ve had ups and downs. A lot of downs. A lot of challenges. And I’m not saying we’re done, by any means. But right now, with what we’ve been through, this feels good.”

He was wearing his cap and T-shirt, too. So was his idol, Brett Keisel, as he walked out of the room almost immediately after the celebration and, upon spotting friends and family, flipped open his overcoat to show the shirt with the broadest of grins through the Beard.

So give credit where due.

Start with the head coach, even if it comes through gritted teeth. If you’re going to rip him when the Steelers fail — and I’ve done more than my share — you’ve got to give it up for the steady hand that kept London from morphing into some spiraling disaster, one that could have taken half a decade to clean up. Tomlin is obstinate to a fault, and he’s got other flaws, but the man wins.

“I’m just really, really happy for the group in there,” Tomlin said, motioning to the locker room. “I’m proud of their effort. It hasn’t been an easy journey for us, but they never are. They grew and grew together and remained resilient throughout.”

Tomlin isn’t referring to the journey from London, of course. He rarely crosses over seasons. Rather, he was referring to the progress of this 2014 team. And I’ll toss in one example he could have cited but didn’t: The Steelers were an undisciplined mess at season’s outset, but that started to change after about a month and, in this game, they were penalized once all night, and that a ridiculously late holding flag on Foster that negated a huge run by Josh Harris.

More on that in a bit, but again, a tip of one of those AFC North caps to the coach.

And to Art Rooney II for doing anything but panicking.

“We’ve come a long way,” he told me with a warm smile after this.

And to Kevin Colbert for drafts that, while lacking depth and direction, still culled Bell and Antonio Brown.

Continue to Todd Haley and Dick LeBeau. Keep the gritted teeth, if you want, but Haley’s offense carried the team through the first 14 games, and LeBeau’s defense has only gotten stronger.

How about Carnell Lake?

He presided over the most glaring shortcoming of the team, and the secondary suddenly is bubbling with new life. Well, those replacements, especially corners Antwon Blake with his colossal forced fumble and Brice McCain with his two picks, won this game. Will Allen was sharp, too, as Troy Polamalu’s replacement, notably on run stops. Even much maligned Mike Mitchell has settled.

Lake challenged all concerned in a Wednesday meeting, I was told, to step up:

Sorry, but I don’t want to hear a syllable about Ike Taylor taking back his job anymore. And I’m perilously close to some blasphemous consideration of Allen over Polamalu, though not quite. This patchwork bunch, for whatever reason, is finding chemistry at the right time.

Let’s hear it for Roethlisberger, too. Almost inactivated by the flu he picked up only Sunday morning — and I heard it it was, literally, a game-time decision — and then victimized by early drops, he still wound up 24 of 38 for 317 yards and connected with Martavis Bryant and Brown on long touchdowns. For the season, he threw for 4,952 yards, a franchise record and tied for tops in the NFL with Drew Brees.

Roethlisberger was in no mood to analyze the Steelers’ journey when asked, but it didn’t have to do with the flu.

“Hopefully, the journey’s not over,” he replied. “I’m not going to talk about journeys and where we are. We’re still going, so it’s an early question for me to answer right now.”

Then there’s Brown. All he’s done is become the NFL’s best player at his position, that buttressed by seven more catches for 128 yards and a 71-yard punt return on this night. His 129 catches on the season were second-most in league history — Marvin Harrison had 143 in 2002 — and his 1,698 yards were fifth-most. Both are new standards for the Steelers.

“To go down in history is a tremendous honor,” Brown said. “My son was here tonight. It’s something I can share with my kids. But it’s not just me. I couldn’t do it by myself.”

Bell’s played a big role, too, and I believe that could continue Saturday despite this:

In the third quarter, his right knee curved nastily to the left on a low tackle by Cincinnati safety Reggie Nelson, and he didn’t return. It looked awful, but Tomlin called the knee ‘hyperextended’ and said there was ‘no structural damage.’ That means the critical ligaments remained intact. What’s more, in canvassing the room, I didn’t sense that anyone feared a serious injury, and that’s usually an easy signal to detect.

If Bell isn’t ready, the Steelers’ offense still will have a sizable edge on a Baltimore secondary that’s ranked 28th in the league and have deteriorated in the process.

There isn’t much deteriorating of any kind going on around here. The arrow is up with this team, per one of Tomlin’s countless pet phrases, and that includes the intangibles. On the field, not everything goes right, but there’s always a healthy response. Off the field, it’s the same.

For all the numbers that can be cited to characterize these 2014 Steelers, none stands out for me quite like this: They’ve now won their past seven December games.

“We’re getting better,” as Roethlisberger put it. “That was always the goal. I don’t think we’re hot. We’re just playing pretty good football, and we have to keep getting better.”

In January, he meant.