Life nearly took a very different turn for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Andrew McCutchen.

McCutchen went on Mookie Betts’ podcast on Bleacher Report, On Base With Mookie Betts. In the episode, the Pirates star revealed that he had an offer from the University of Miami to play football and baseball on a full-ride scholarship. McCutchen said he hadn’t played football since his sophomore season after he suffered a torn ACL in his sophomore year of high school playing the sport.

McCutchen said he considered the offer from Miami but eventually decided to stick with baseball knowing that was a strong chance he’d be drafted in the first round of the MLB Draft. That eventually came to fruition when the Pirates drafted him with the No. 11 overall pick in the first round of the 2005 MLB Draft out of Fort Meade High School in FL.

“I get a phone call from the head coach for our high school football team,” McCutchen said. “He calls me [and] he goes, ‘Hey, congratulations. Miami called [and] they want to give you an offer. They want to offer you. I’m like, ‘What?’ [He said] they you want to give a full ride to play football. And I sat there and I’m like I ain’t played football in two years. I was kind of in shock, and I was like, ‘Nah, man, I’m getting drafted.’”

Had McCutchen not been taken in the first round of the MLB Draft, he said he would have gone to college and likely would have tried to play football and baseball collegiately. McCutchen had signed a Letter of Intent to play at the University of Florida before he was drafted by Pittsburgh.

Drafting McCutchen has proven to be one of the Pirates’ best decisions in franchise history. McCutchen, 38, has amassed a 42.7 Wins Above Replacement and has batted .284/.375/.475 with 235 home runs and 818 RBIs over his 11 seasons in Pittsburgh. McCutchen ranks among the franchise’s all-time great players, ranking in the top 10 in Wins Above Replacement, games played, at-bats, home runs, RBIs, hits, doubles and total bases.

McCutchen is also a former MVP, five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, Gold Glove winner, and winner of the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award in 2015. The Pirates legend is set to return for a 12th season with the franchise after agreeing to a one-year, $5 million deal on Monday.

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As I sit here feeling a headache form in between sips of egg nog in my new Ice Nine Kills sweatshirt, I’ve written, erased, and rewritten the opener for this six times. What can even be said after what we just watched other than “Yeah, this team isn’t going anywhere.”

From the opening drive, these were the same Steelers we’ve seen the last two weeks – unorganized, unmotivated, and a complete non-threat to teams that are actually contenders in the AFC.

The Chiefs jumped out to a 13-0 lead after the Steelers punted on their first two drives that spanned a combined eight plays. The Steelers weren’t down and out yet, though. A quick drive that featured several big Jaylen Warren runs got them into the red zone in three plays. Warren ran into the end zone, but a holding call on Darnell Washington brought it back. The next play, Russell Wilson threw an interception to Justin Reid and that all but sealed the deal. Even when Wilson ran in for a score to make the lead 13-7, it never really felt like the Steelers would take the game by the horns and make a statement. The only statement they made is that they remain a second-class team.

Even when they owned time of possession, they didn’t do anything with the ball. They had the ball for 31:22, but their two turnovers plus a turnover on downs did them in. They ran the ball well, as Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren both finished with over 70 yards and the team accumulated over 200 yards on the day. But five Russell Wilson sacks and a lackluster passing game were Pittsburgh’s undoing offensively.

Defensively, this team is lost. After the first two scores, multiple players are throwing up their hands in confusion wondering what happened. They didn’t register a sack on Mahomes, they gave up 320 yards through the air, and allowed 16 first downs via Mahomes’ arm. This is not a good defense, and they lack any sort of aggressiveness to try and help the back end with pressure. Now at 10-6 and losers of three straight, Pittsburgh will likely be the No. 5 seed and travel to Houston or Baltimore for the wild card round, and nothing they’ve shown over the last month gives anyone any reason to believe they’d win. Stick a fork in the Pittsburgh Steelers, this isn’t a serious football team.