A 2-6 start by the Pittsburgh Steelers is not the end of the world, but it sure has put a frown on the faces of the Black and Gold faithful.

It’s been very frustrating to watch, from the opening 16-9 defeat to Tennessee when Pittsburgh’s offense looked lifeless for much of the game to last week’s 55-31 debacle at New England when the defense may as well have hit the showers in the fourth quarter.

Also frustrating is hearing people who claim to be Steeler fans arguing that the team should give up on the rest of the season so that Pittsburgh can improve its position in next spring’s player draft.

Maybe I’m in the minority with this line of thinking, but since NFL coaches get paid to coach and players get paid to play, they should do so to the best of their ability until the season is over. That doesn’t mean until the team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. It means until there are no more games, regular season or playoff, on the schedule.

As a fan, watching mistake-filled play is tough, but it sure beats seeing effortless play. In the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Patriots, I felt like the Steelers’ defense quit. It takes a lot for me to say that about the team I’ve rooted for since my childhood. The thought of watching eight more games worth of half-hearted football is unacceptable.

I’m hoping that, no matter what the team’s final record ends up being this season, I can at least count on watching inspired, if flawed, play over the last two months.

There is a precedent to look back on regarding poor starts for the Steelers. Since the NFL moved to a 16-game schedule in 1978, the Steelers have been 2-6 at the halfway point four other times — 1986, 1988, 2003 and 2006.

Want to take a guess at what the combined record of those teams was in the second half of the season? It was 17-15, proving that those teams didn’t quit and neither should this one. Coaches at every level of football preach playing hard until the final whistle to their players. Embedded in that mentality is playing hard until the end of the season.

As for those all-important draft picks, JaMarcus Russell was a first-overall selection in 2007. He’s now a free agent, hoping that another team will take a chance on him. Tom Brady was not taken until the sixth round in 2000. He has a bust waiting for him in Canton.

Those are just two examples, but the point is that flops and all-pros can be found at every round of the draft. The key is to have competent scouts and a general manager and/or head coach who can consistently select two or three players every year who will become solid NFL players, no matter the team’s draft position.

As for this week, the Bills have not won in Pittsburgh since a 24-3 decision in the 1992 AFC playoffs.

Steelers 22, Bills 16.

Derek Pyda is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.