Following two consecutive losses in the AFC, the Steelers are now 4-3, yet still sit atop of their division.

Nearly halfway through the season, a well-timed bye week couldn’t have come at a better time. In order to make the playoffs, the Steelers will have obviously have to win their division; with a path to possibly host an additional postseason game at Heinz Field, if they make the following things happen:

Get Healthy

The Steelers have been decimated by injuries throughout the season. It all started in the preseason with Ladarius Green, Bud Dupree, Cody Wallace, Roosevelt Nix and Markus Wheaton all nursing injuries. Those preseason injuries were followed by dents and dings to Ryan Shazier, Robert Golden, Marcus Gilbert, Eli Rogers, Sammie Coates, and Sean Davis, with the two biggest blows being Cameron Heyward and Ben Roethlisberger.

That’s a lot of contributors on both sides of the ball missing time, which ends with an inconsistent product on the field, due to an inconsistent core of rotating players at each positional group.

Discounting the first five names, Eli Rogers and Sammie Coates were growing into dependable receivers. Markus Wheaton returned briefly, and then disappeared again. Though Wheaton’s absence is tough to gauge based on everyone else’s play to date, the Steelers are now relying on the bottom of their depth chart (Darrius Heyward-Bey) and a practice squad addition from August (Cobi Hamilton) to hold the receiver group together.

So far they have.

Adding a healthy Rogers and Coates back to the mix would help greatly, as would having Marcus Gilbert return at right tackle. Gilbert had been banged up earlier this year and playing through injury. His replacement, Chris Hubbard, is a guard who hadn’t played tackle since college, but has played beyond expectations in a reserve role.

Of course, bringing Big Ben back is the biggest goal, and the one that sets the Steelers apart from other teams in the league. Adding all of those components back on offense, with the potential addition of a big, fast target in Green, might find some teams sleeping on the Steelers offensive potential.

 

Get to the QB

That potential will be needed, as the defense has cycled through players at every positional group as well. The heart and soul of the defensive line, Cam Heyward, is sorely missed in pass rushing situations. Bud Dupree’s eventual return could also spark the same situational play.

The safeties have held together despite injuries to Golden and Davis: Davis had been splitting time at nickel corner, but the Steelers may have found a better rotation, using William Gay in that spot and playing first round pick Artie Burns on the outside, when utilizing extra defensive backs.

Ryan Shazier is the defense’s equivalent to a quarterback; Vince Williams also played above the line subbing for number 50, but it’s Shazier’s ability to change games that is needed by the defensive unit.

Getting all of the aforementioned players back to 100% will improve the defense drastically, and should raise the level of play from those on the field with them. It should help the Steelers get to the quarterback, and thus, help the defensive backs intercept passes (both of which have been issues thus far this season).

Get road wins

Moving forward, the Steelers play 3 of their next 4 games on the road: Baltimore, Cleveland and Indianapolis.

None of those three teams are playing inspiring football, which shouldn’t be a cause for concern: except that the Steelers have consistently played down to such opponents.

• The Ravens have lost 4 in a row.
• The Browns have yet to win a game as of this writing.
• The Colts are currently 3-4, leaking yards, points and downs to opposing offenses.

If Pittsburgh wants to be contenders rather than pretenders, they’ll have to change their approach to playing away from Heinz Field. No one can say what it is that’s broken, but if they can figure it out, now would be the time. All three of the road opponents are AFC teams, and two are division rivals.

Those games will be crucial to postseason positioning, and a berth as the AFC North champion.