Real nice seven-day stretch for CBS sports both nationally and locally, huh?

First, in the middle of some truly embarrassing media coverage of the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide -- hours of speculation on Twitter about who the player was before the name was released, NFL.com running a slideshow of Belcher titled "Through the Years" as if he were Walter Payton (as the great Tom E. Curran tweeted last week night "Would they have done the same for Rae Carruth?") -- the CBS pregame show completely ignored the story in its opening segment last Sunday, instead using the time to plug a program airing on sister network Showtime and ultimately dedicating more airtime to an interview with a Victoria's Secret supermodel than to the biggest NFL story of this season. All we got from Kansas City, from the network of Murrow, Hewitt and Cronkite, was the puffiest of puff pieces from Lesley Visser. 

The very next night, at the top of the WBZ-TV 10 p.m. newscast, Steve Burton reported that sources had told him "significant progress" had been made toward ending the NHL lockout and that "an announcement could come as early as tomorrow or Wednesday."

Probably you noticed that didn't happen. Look, being in the business of breaking stories is, I imagine, a very tricky existence. And Burton, to his credit, has done it before with NHL stuff (first with the news that Phil Kessel had cancer). But this is a spectacular whiff, if you are going to basically report the NHL lockout is over -- and be alone on that island -- the NHL lockout better be over. Burton was for a couple of days last week a national punchline, and now it will be even tougher to take seriously the credibility of someone who really, really wants the Patriots to win each and every Sunday. 

And now we arrive at the most recent blunder from the folks at CBS, one not nearly as egregious as the stunning lack of perspective on the pregame show and not as journalistically embarrassing as Burton's swing and miss, but still a genuine, what-the-hell-were-they-thinking kind of head-scratcher that I need explained.

If you sat down and watched the 1 p.m game on CBS Sunday maybe you were surprised to see the Chargers and the Steelers getting ready for kickoff. The Chargers, after all, were 4-8 and essentially eliminated from the playoffs. The Steelers, 7-5 and with Ben Roethlisberger back at quarterback, were of course right in the middle of the wild card race and after a road win at Baltimore still in a divisional battle.

But just a quick look at the schedule showed a far more attractive 1 p.m. option for CBS to give us locally. The Ravens, tied with the Patriots at 9-3 for the second seed in the AFC (plus a head-to-head win over the Patriots) were on the road (remember, the conference of the road team determines the broadcaster of an interconference game) against the Redskins.

That's right -- CBS had the option of choosing an 4-8 team vs. a 7-5 team or a 9-3 team vs. a 6-6 team right in the playoff mix with one of the two or three most exciting players right now in the NFL at quarterback -- and Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck are THE on-field story of this season, no other submissions necessary -- and went with 4-8 vs. 7-5.

OK. Inexplicable but not the end of the world. I understand there is a significant Steelers faction in New England, they are an A-list franchise and maybe the closest thing to a conference rival for the Patriots now that Manning is out of Indianapolis. So I was confused but not offended by the decision.

But here's where CBS lost me -- the Chargers went into Heinz Field at destroyed the Steelers. The final score was 34-24 but it wasn't nearly that close, the Steelers scored a TD with 58 seconds left in the game. This was a 34-10 game with six minutes left -- not even Norv Turner and Philip Rivers will blow that lead in 360 seconds. The stadium was -- and this is being conservative -- 90 percent empty for that garbage-time TD drive by the Steelers, meaning this: No one in Pittsburgh wanted to watch the game.

But CBS gave those in Boston the entire game, every single snap of a game that should have never been on in this market in the first place.

At the same time, the Redskins and Ravens -- the game that should have aired -- were finishing up a game-of-the-year candidate. By now you've seen the highlights: RG III (the NFL leader in passer rating, by the way) goes down with a knee injury during the final drive of regulation after a Haloti Ngata tackle sprained his right knee. Kirk Cousins comes in, replaces Griffin (who tried to return but had to leave again with the injury) and throws a TD pass to Pierre Garcon with 29 seconds left to cut the lead to 28-26 and then converts a QB draw for the tying two-point conversion.

Overtime. Most of the country -- and, yes, everyone with Red Zone and Sunday Ticket -- were watching terrific NFL theater while those in Boston were watching the Chargers run out the clock in front of an empty stadium.

Richard Crawford returns a punt 64 yards, Kai Forbath kicks a 34-yard field goal and the Redskins win the game and the Patriots are in position to do no worse than the No. 2 seed in the AFC if they can win their last four games.

You won't see a more dramatic 20 minutes this season -- RGIII rolling around on the ground, a rookie QB coming in to replace a rookie QB and leading a team down the field to tie the game, the punt return and walk-off FG, a signature NFL franchise returning to relevance against a local rival -- and for reasons unknown to me CBS never switched over.

Look, I get that this is 2012 and many of us around here have ways to watch every game, but many don't. And those folks, Patriots fans and all NFL fans, got screwed by CBS on Sunday, plain and simple. A disservice was done, and there is no reason why it had to happen. This was an easy fix that somehow never got resolved.

A lousy week for CBS sports is over. Here's hoping this week is better. Hey, maybe the lockout will end and Burton can claim victory -- he never really specified which Wednesday, did he?