In Week 11, the Pittsburgh Steelers were thoroughly
dominated by the Jacksonville Jaguars for three quarters. Then a funny thing
happened: The offense woke up and turned what had been an amazing day for Jalen
Ramsey into an inexplicable, come-from-nowhere victory for Pittsburgh.
The Steelers of this era exist in a perpetual state of
measuring themselves up to the New England Patriots, the white whale that has
eluded defeat in every significant meeting between the teams during the careers
of Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger. If the Steelers couldn’t get past the
Jaguars, the team that bounced them from last year’s playoffs a week before the
presumed second meeting with New England, there was little point worrying about
the Pats at all.
But the dramatic Week 11 victory pushed Pittsburgh into the
second seed in those if-the-season-ended-today scenarios. Even though six weeks
remained, fans and analysts allowed themselves to project those seedings forward
and speculate on possible postseason outcomes.
However, fortunes can still be squandered in the last
month-and-a-half of the regular season, as was seen in Denver on Sunday.
Pittsburgh wasn’t exactly dominated by the Broncos. If anything, the Steelers lost
due to a handful of fluky turnovers on plays that should have resulted in
points — not to mention the bad interception that Roethlisberger threw on the
final possession when Pittsburgh had a chance to tie.
It’s a deceptively critical loss for those who already had
designs on Pittsburgh getting a first-round bye and therefore putting itself in
the conversation as a serious Super Bowl contender. After all, Pittsburgh’s
first Super Bowl win with Roethlisberger did come with three road wins out of
the wild-card round. But that was also 13 years ago — and the Steelers’ road
playoff record since is a much less impressive 2-3.
The Steelers are now a half-game behind the Patriots with a
head-to-head meeting remaining, and Pittsburgh has already lost to the Chiefs,
who are a safe bet to occupy one of the two byes in the AFC. At first blush, it
might seem encouraging that the Steelers could possibly control their own
destiny — even if it is against a foe they usually don’t have an answer for —
but that reasoning ignores the otherwise exceedingly tough stretch they are
about to enter.
Three of the Steelers' next four opponents are the Chargers,
Patriots and Saints, all Super Bowl contenders in their own right that have
better records at present than Pittsburgh. Even if the Steelers win two of
three, an impressive feat, they might still not catch the Pats.
Luckily, the Chargers and Patriots contests are at Heinz
Field. Less fortunate is the Saints matchup. Playing New Orleans in the
Superdome is a daunting task during that team's up years, and indeed, the
Saints are up, up, up in 2018. Pittsburgh has the ability to put up fireworks,
as it showed in a 52-point outburst against Carolina. But the offense often
lacks the discipline on a consistent basis to expect such outings every week.
Then there’s the game against the Raiders, which looks like
an easy win on paper... until one considers the propensity of Steelers teams
under Mike Tomlin to occasionally get caught by surprise by objectively bad
teams.
Sunday’s loss to Denver probably doesn’t tell much about the
Steelers beside their need to improve ball security. The offense wasn’t even
partially stymied like it was against Jacksonville, as it moved the ball with
great ease. But then there was Xavier Grimble's killer fumble on the goal line
and a bad pin wheeling fumble by James Conner, who also dropped what would have
been a game-winning pass the week before against the Jags.
The Pittsburgh offense has shown it can hang with any team,
but careless turnovers and an occasional over-reliance on improvised plays can
gum up the works. They’re going to need a little luck and some discipline to
escape the next four games still in position for a bye. And lest they get too
comfortable, the Ravens have won two straight and are only a game-and-a-half
back, as unexpected as that was just a couple of weeks ago.
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