The Steelers can still get back into playoff contention this season
Don’t adjust your screens. This isn’t a text. This isn’t fake news. This isn’t clickbait.
This is a serious assessment of the 2019 Steelers and what could be.
That’s the keyword here, because we still aren’t sure who this year’s team is, as they’ve been lacking an identity on offense and at times, also on defense.
Losing a future Hall of Fame quarterback definitely didn’t help matters for an offense that’s struggled to maintain possessions of more than four or five plays all season. In fact, the Steelers offense, with or without Ben Roethlisberger, has only had a certain number of drives exceed three minutes all season.
Six of 35 drives, to be exact.
Short drives have been a killer for what appears to be an improved Steelers defense that keeps getting gassed. Yes, I understand that the Steelers are 0-3, with an embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots, but hear me out: all three of the teams they’ve played thus far have been solid, playoff contending organizations.
The Patriots are coming off of a Super Bowl win: and two Super Bowl wins out of three consecutive appearances. While most of us felt better about the Steelers odds this season, that doesn’t take away from playing in Foxboro against a franchise which has been a juggernaut throughout the last two decades.
The Seattle Seahawks, led by head coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Russell Wilson, are no slouches either. Seattle has been to the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons, including two Super Bowl appearances, winning one. (Their lone playoff miss? A 9-7 season in 2017 during that stretch.)
The 49ers?
They’re a team on the rise behind a richly paid quarterback and coach as well. One look a their defense on Sunday tells you everything you need to know about how they’re built to compete in a tough NFC West.
But what does all of this mean for Pittsburgh?
It means that they may have had the hardest stretch of their schedule frontloaded.
The Steelers will now turn their attention toward Monday Night Football where they face an equally woeful Cincinnati Bengals team that enters Heinz Field with the same 0-3 record.
What better way to turn the season around than getting a win against a division opponent before hosting yet another the following week.
If the Steelers, who lost close contests by two-points (Seahawks) and four-points (49ers) can turn the corner against the Bengals, they bring momentum into the following Sunday’s home game against a Baltimore Ravens team that fell to 2-1. They currently lead the division, with their two wins coming against other inferior NFL opponents such as the Buccaneers and Dolphins.
This weekend the Ravens host the Cleveland Browns, who gave them fits in 2018. The Browns sit at 1-2, which could leave the division in an “up for grabs” state as soon as Week 4 concludes. Should the Ravens fall to 2-2, they would match the Browns record also: which leaves the Steelers one game behind both teams with an opportunity to jump in front with a head-to-head victory in Week 5 over Baltimore.
In the best case scenario for Pittsburgh, the fallout from Week 5 could see three 2-3 teams: with the Ravens in third place behind the Steelers and Browns due to head-to-head tiebreakers.
Path to the AFC North title
It’s a lot of conjecture at this point, but Pittsburgh isn’t entirely out of it just yet. With all four AFC North teams losing last week, the Steelers stayed in the hunt for the division title: winning it, no matter what record they finish with, gives them an automatic playoff berth.
Ultimately, they control their destiny from here on out. The next two games, both at home, are against division opponents. They travel to Los Angeles to play the Chargers in a Sunday Night Football game before a bye week and then three games at home, which include the basement dwelling Dolphins, the Indianapolis Colts, and the LA Rams, a team which struggled to win at Cleveland on Sunday Night despite the Browns missing a majority of defensive starters.
If that’s not reason for some optimism, I’m not sure what is. This is a clear path to securing a winning record, considering their other games late in the season (where Mike Tomlin is generally a coaching phenom) include games against the Cardinals, Bills, and Jets. (I’m aware the Bills have a better record so far, but let’s wait and see on them too: their wins came over the Jets by a point, the Giants, and the aforementioned Bengals.)
Final Thoughts
Of course, all of this optimism could blow up in my face and we could be looking at one of the worst Steelers teams of the entire century.
However, I don’t feel as if the players in the locker room are ready to pack it in just yet, and their close contests with each of the last two quality opponents suggests they will be competitive at the very least.
Then there’s this little nugget: 10 of the 16 teams in the AFC currently hold 1-2 or 0-3 records. The important note? Six of those 16 will make the playoffs.
Currently the six teams with winning records are the Patriots, Bills, Chiefs, Ravens, Texans, and Colts: do we expect that to hold?
Only time will tell, but if Pittsburgh can minimize an extra self-defeating mistake (penalty or otherwise) it’s the difference between a win and a loss. Stacking those wins could easily see them as the favorite to emerge as the AFC North Champion.
