The journey toward the Super Bowl is now well under way with the Pittsburgh Steelers back practicing at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, still informally referred to as the ‘South Side’ facility. With the regular season standing in their way on the path to a Lombardi, there will be questions for them to answer along the way.
We have asked and answered a lot of questions during the preseason and through training camp, but much of the answer-seeking ends in the regular season, and teams simply have to make do with what they have available to them. Still, there will always be questions for us.
You can rest assured that we have the questions, and we will be monitoring the developments in the regular season and beyond as they develop, looking for the answers as we evaluate the makeup of the Steelers on their way back to the Super Bowl, after reaching the AFC Championship game last season for the first time in more than half a decade.
Question: Will the Steelers finally show up in Baltimore?
The Steelers, historically, just have not been very good playing in Baltimore. Evidently, they find it to be a really tough place to play. Against the Ravens on the road, they are 9-12 all-time, though that includes a four-game losing skid.
In the 31 games played there, however, the Steelers have only ever scored 30 or more points twice. In fact, they’ve only scored 25 or more points three times. And 20 or more points on just eight of the 31 games, which seems kind of unimaginable.
In 31 games that the Steelers have played in Baltimore, they have been held to under 20 points 23 times. They have been held under that mark in each of their last three trips there, and the last time they won, in 2012, it took 23 points.
Considering that the offense has not exactly played lights out so far this year, that history lesson might seem more of an omen. They just managed 17 points against the Bears on Sunday, and only 14 of their 21 points in the opener in Cleveland were produced by their offense.
Though the Ravens’ defense was made to look like fools on Sunday in London, I do think it’s fair to point out they are a much better unit than that game reflects, especially when healthier. And as history has shown, they always play the Steelers hard.
There are problems. Everybody knows there are problems. Ben Roethlisberger is taking the blame. Martavis Bryant is taking the blame. In fact, this has been a week filled with people lining up to accept blame.
But identifying issues and fixing them are very different. They have a big issue playing in Baltimore, and the only way to show they can get over that issue is by, you know, actually doing it. Can they actually have a ‘good’ game in Baltimore? Is it too much to ask?
