The Pittsburgh Steelers have done pretty well for themselves over the course of their five-game winning streak, which has pulled them up to a 6-2-1 record, good for the fourth-best record in the AFC, pending Sunday’s games, and positioning them for the third seed in the conference.
While the defensive turnaround has been important in that process, the offense has been the driving force in their recent success. As Elias Sports provided, the team has scored 177 points over the span of their past five games, which is the most they have ever scored in a five-game period in their history.
That was capped off by a 52-21 shellacking of the Carolina Panthers, which was the most that they have scored in any game since 1984, and just the second 50-point game of the Ben Roethlisberger era. But it was just one of three 30-plus games, and two of over 40, in this run.
It started with a 41-17 blowout of the Atlanta Falcons. They needed a last-minute touchdown to secure a 28-21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals a week later, but came out of their bye with a 33-18 takedown of the Cleveland Browns. In the first and third games, Joshua Dobbs came in to take the final snap in victory formation.
The Baltimore Ravens were able to hold the Steelers to just 23 points in a seven-point victory, which is the third-lowest total they have had all year, behind the 14 points they managed in the first Ravens game back in Week Four and the 21-21 tie of the opener against the Browns. But then came the 52-point came just days later.
The Steelers are now averaging 31 points per game on the season, the fourth-best in the NFL, and averaged 35.4 points per game during their current winning streak, during which Roethlisberger has thrown 13 touchdown passes, and also added another on the ground. James Conner has added eight touchdowns in that span as well, one of them being a Roethlisberger pass.
The interesting thing is that Pittsburgh wasn’t far from matching this production just three years ago. In 2015, when they averaged 26.4 points per game, which was also the fourth-best in the league that season, they scored 176 points over a five-game span.
That was during a six-game run in which they scored at least 30 points in every game, beginning with a 38-35 win over the Oakland Raiders, and ending with a 34-point showing over the Denver Broncos.
They scored 210 points over that six game winning streak, so if the Steelers want to continue breaking their own records, they’re going to have to put up 34 points against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
