class="rtejustify"> DENVER— The Pittsburgh Steelers made NFL history yesterday. And not in a good way. The Steelers, who were awarded a first round playoff bye after they were matched up with the Denver Broncos, became the first team in the history of the league to be booted from the playoffs despite having an off week.

The Steelers were supposed to travel to New England to take on the top seeded Patriots next weekend, but were informed yesterday evening that would not be the case, news that came as quite a shock to the players.

“It was my understanding that we didn’t need to play this week,” said Steelers corner back Ike Taylor, who along with his teammates made the trip out to Denver to spend their bye week skiing and relaxing. “Everyone made it clear that we should be getting ready for New England, so we were just chilling in Denver.”

Now that Pittsburgh has been eliminated, the NFL will send league spokesperson Tim Tebow to New England next week, as the Patriots will be the first team in NFL history to receive two playoff bye weeks.