Saw this on Facebook today...

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by JS-Steelerfan

Well, they do own victories against three of this year's playoff teams. They were just plagued with inconsistency this year.

It's happened before. In fact, it's a growing pattern. Since 2000, they've had a mediocre (and playoff-less) year exactly once every three years (2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, and now, 2012). Each time it was followed by two years of winning, with either a SB or AFCC appearance in one of the two years.

Will the next two years follow this pattern? I have no idea. But there's been enough of a precedent set in the last decade that you probably shouldn't roll your eyes at this season unless they have a second 'blah' year in a row in 2013.

That's an interesting trend.