Would a Super Bowl XLVI Win by the Pittsburgh Steelers in a Shortened Season be Less Significant?

The chances of having a shortened season due to the lockout is still not out of the picture.  If that happens, and there is still a Super Bowl in Indianapolis in February 2012, would that Super Bowl be less significant than a Super Bowl won when all 16 games are played?  Ray Fittipaldo from the PPG poses that question today.  Let’s take a look ourselves.

The month of June saw an optimistic and positive advancement in labor talks between the owners and the former NFLPA.  Something for many NFL fans to hold onto since the lockout surpassed it’s 100th day.  The ‘magic number’ for reaching a deal between the two groups and still having an ‘on schedule’ season is somewhere around July 15th.  Some in the media and close sources to the bargaining sessions even said a deal could be as close as right after the 4th.  But with De. Smith calling some players this past week and saying that a deal wasn’t even close, many are backpedaling with their mid-July predictions.

If a deal is not struck by mid-July, chances are training camp will start late.  What the league then has to decide is if there is a shortened pre-season.  That decision is all dependent upon how far the lockout goes beyond mid-July.  Let’s say the lockout blows past week four of preseason play.  What does that season look like?  Well the NFL is prepared to lose up to 8 regular season games this upcoming season – meaning that the lockout ends sometime in October.

Back in ’82 when there was a strike, the NFL set up a 16 team tournament after playing nine games in a shortened season.  The NFL could set up something very similar this time around in it’s 8 game scenario.  Football could start as late as Thanksgiving.  Would anyone even care by then?  Anyways, it a scenario that is suspect to much criticism because 8 games just seems too short.

Part of football and the strategy of having a 16 game season is being able to manage injuries, win streaks and egos in order to outlast all the other teams.  8 games – is that really a good litmus for testing how good a team really is?  A team that goes 3-4 could make it into the playoff format system get hot and win it all.  And you thought Barry Bonds’ asterisk was big and ugly?  So how too few games is too few?  I feel that 12 games is the least amount you can play.  That’s 13 weeks of football and still allows the season to start in October if the NFL pushes the Super Bowl to mid February.

So let’s say that the Steelers win it all next year in a 12 game season or even an 8 game season.  Would you feel any less proud of that trophy and ring?  Does it feel like a waste of a season because you as a citizen of Steeler Nation feels ‘dirty’ with this Super Bowl victory?  I think if there is any semblance of a shortened season in 2011 no matter what team wins it all is doomed to be razed, questioned and stripped as insignificant – even if that team goes 8-0 or 12-0.  And honestly, if there is a shortened season, the Steelers would be smart to not even pursue players like Ike Taylor.  Save your money to sign bigger contracts to key players who you know you will need in the next 2-3 years.  Wash your hands of that season and look to 2012.

So Nation, what are your thoughts on the Steelers winning a season shortened Super Bowl?