The Pittsburgh Steelers have been a bit of a statistical anomaly this year. They boast a 5-3 record and hold the top Wild-Card seed in the AFC playoff race while every team they’ve faced has put together a better offensive performance than them. Their defense ranks second in the league in turnovers forced (16) as well as 13th in points allowed but is second-worst in football in total yards allowed along with being second-worst in the league in three-and-out rate.
A lot of these stats don’t make a lot of sense for a team that is on the inside looking out of the playoff hunt thus far, and Jordan Dajani of CBS Sports tends to agree. In a recent piece predicting which current teams in playoff position miss the postseason, Dajani had the Steelers ultimately falling out of the postseason altogether, projecting them to have a second-half slide to end the season.
“The Steelers are the first team in NFL history with a winning record through eight games despite being outgained in each contest,” Dajani wrote. “It would be easier to have more confidence in this team if the offense wasn’t the fourth-worst unit in the NFL. How often does a team averaging 16.6 points per game make the postseason? Looking at Pittsburgh’s schedule, it’s possible the Steelers finish 9-8, and should be right on the bubble. The Steelers have an interesting matchup with the Packers this week, the Browns in Week 11 and the Bengals twice — including in Week 12. The end of the regular season is going to be pivotal, as Pittsburgh plays Cincinnati, Seattle and Baltimore to close out the year.”
Dajani’s concerns with Pittsburgh’s offense are legitimate as the unit has been uninspiring for most of the season. Even last week against the Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh’s offense was largely ineffective for most of the game despite going down the field and scoring on its opening possession. These long droughts won’t help Pittsburgh’s chances when playing some of the top teams in the AFC. The Chiefs, Bills, and Dolphins are squads that can score almost at will, having prolific offenses that can pour it on, and have done so against Pittsburgh in the past while the Steelers fail to keep up.
While that may be the case for the Steelers getting bounced in the playoffs, they are in prime position to make it into the big dance. They have one of the easiest remaining schedules according to Pro Football Network, facing the Cardinals, Colts, and Patriots in a three-week span with none of those teams above three wins on the year. The have the Bengals twice as well as the Seahawks and a rematch with the Ravens and Browns, but they can go 1-4 in those contests and still be a 10-win team at the end of the season if they take care of business in their other games.
It hasn’t been pretty, but the Steelers have found ways to win football games. This is who they’ve always been under Mike Tomlin, not paying attention to style points, but rather focusing on winning ball games by any means necessary. Getting S Minkah Fitzpatrick and TE Pat Freiermuth back should help as well as seeing continued improvement in the running game, which flashed against the Titans last week. The Steelers may not be considered a title contender, but they do appear to be in a good spot when it comes to securing a playoff berth.
