The Pittsburgh Steelers have yet to lose two games in a row this season.
But they haven’t won two games in a row either.
The trend thus far has been an emulation of a roller coaster, with the Steelers trading wins and losses on a weekly basis. It’s had both the team and the fans getting high and low, even if some of those victories were less than impressive.
The only time the Steelers even came close to, or approximated, putting together a complete game, they crushed the Carolina Panthers on the road with margin of victory boasting a three-possession difference.
They ground out better than 260 yards on the ground on the road in that game, and it looked like things might be turning around.
But then they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And then the rest of the division got a look at the Panthers and made that victory look much less impressive.
Last week featured one of the least inspiring road victories in recent memory, a 17-9 ‘triumph’ over the winless Jacksonville Jaguars, after which they proceeded to embarrass themselves all over the field yesterday afternoon.
For those keeping score at home, that’s win, loss, win, loss, win, and loss through the first six games of the season for an overall 3-3 record.
There are no trends of success to sink your teeth into—no momentum to build upon.
There’s just stark raving inconsistency.
This is much unlike the 2013 season, during which the Steelers were about as streaky as ever, starting with an 0-4 skid to begin the year.
The team then ‘stacked’ a couple wins before doubling up on losses. Then they won three straight before dropping another pair, only to run the table in the last three games and just barely miss the playoffs in the process.
At least there was a tangible ebb and flow to the season a year ago from which sense could be made, but such is not to be found this year.
The Steelers were fortunate to win two of their games, and unfortunate in one of their losses. The other three were blowouts, favoring placing the Steelers on the losing end.
Coming into this game against the Cleveland Browns, the Steelers were hoping that they could start working on that stacking process after coming up victorious in Jacksonville.
Now they’re hoping to continue playing streak busters next week against the Houston Texans.
