Leading up to the start of the 2024 season, there were plenty of concerns regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers, primarily on offense, which threatened to sink what many believed was already going to be an average season.
But three games into the season, the Steelers are 3-0, getting elite play from their defense while starting to hit their stride offensively.
With that 3-0 start, the Steelers are starting to open some eyes across the league and in the national media. That includes in a trio of power rankings from CBS Sports, The Athletic and ESPN.
On Tuesday, the Steelers climbed into the top 10 in all three power rankings, doing so one week after falling in a pair of them despite beating the Denver Broncos.
Things are looking up for the Steelers overall, and CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco is buying in.
In his power rankings, the Steelers climbed five spots from No. 10 to No. 5 ahead of Week 4, sitting behind only the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks.
“Whoever plays this team will be in for a physical battle each and every week,” Prisco writes regarding the Steelers. “They might not be pretty, but they know how to win games.”
That’s all that matters in the regular season, knowing how to win games.
Things might not be pretty, and it might not be an easy watch with so much reliance on defense, running the football and avoiding the mistakes in today’s NFL, but it’s a formula that has largely worked for head coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers, particularly in the regular season.
The 3-0 start is the fourth time the Steelers have done that under Tomlin, and all three times the Steelers made the playoffs. That bodes well.
They are fully leaning into being that violent, physical team, and through the first three weeks the opponents haven’t had an answer for it. They might not for a while, either.
In The Athletic’s power rankings, the Steelers climbed up to No. 8 after falling to No. 15 last week.
For writer Josh Kendall, it’s a bit of a surprise to see the Steelers doing so well, but the offense “understands the assignment” from a team perspective, and everything is falling into place early in the year.
“Nobody expected the Steelers to be two games in front in the AFC North at this point except maybe their head coach,” Kendall writes. “Opponents are scoring a touchdown on 16.7 percent of their trips into the red zone against Pittsburgh this year. It’s early, but that’s on pace to be the best rate in the NFL since at least 2000, according to TruMedia.
“That plus an offense that understands the assignment (108 team rushes versus 91 Justin Fields drop backs) has been good enough.”
Throughout much of the offseason, there was a lot of talk about the Steelers making a mistake building their team around defense, investing so much in that side of the football and trying to play that style of ball in today’s wide-open NFL.
But in the first three games of the season the Steelers are on a historic pace from a red zone-success perspective, and they’re simply not allowing teams to get to that point more often than not. The Steelers have allowed just 26 points through the first three games of the season and have forced 17 punts.
This defense is elite and will continue to be as long as it is healthy. That’s what the Steelers’ vision was, and so far it’s coming to fruition.
Then, in ESPN’s power rankings the Steelers climbed to No. 7 after sitting at No. 12 last week.
In the power rankings, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor highlighted the biggest concern for the Steelers, that being their red-zone offense.
“Though the Steelers found the end zone twice — and were stopped just short a third time — in their Week 3 win, they are still tied for last in red zone scoring, scoring touchdowns on just 25% of their red zone trips,” Pryor writes. “That’s down from 48.89% in 2023. There are many factors contributing to the low mark — a new offensive coordinator, a backup quarterback tapped to start days before the season opener, a slew of offensive line injuries and ill-timed penalties.
“Sunday could’ve marked the start of a turnaround with a 20-point outing, but the Steelers still had to turn to kicker Chris Boswell when drives stalled out 10 and 12 yards away from the end zone.”
Yes, it’s a concern. If the Steelers want to truly take that next step, they have to start finishing drives consistently by finding pay dirt rather than calling on Boswell.
But it seems unfair to say the Steelers were stopped a third time from finding the end zone late in the game after Najee Harris was tackled at the 1-yard line. The Steelers willingly kneeled on the football.
If they chose to, the Steelers could have punched the ball in for another score and made it 27-10. The Chargers were completely broken at that point physically and had no answer for the Steelers, who imposed their will down the stretch.
And while the red-zone offense is a concern for now, there is some solace in the fact that the Steelers have arguably the best kicker in the NFL in Boswell, making for an automatic three points from 50 yards and in.
Additionally, in NFL.com’s power rankings from Eric Edholm, the Steelers climbed five spots from No. 14 to No. 9, landing inside the top 10.
“The offense keeps taking baby steps forward each week while the defense continues its dominance, allowing a mere 26 points through three games. Justin Fields turned in his best overall game as a Steeler, running for one score and throwing for another, attacking the middle of the field more effectively than we’ve previously seen from him,” Edholm writes regarding the Steelers in the power rankings. “The Chargers helped him out with some poor tackling after the catch and suspect angles to the ball, but Fields is playing low-mistake football now, with only six sacks and one interception through three games. Even with the loss of Troy Fautanu, Broderick Jones took his spot at right tackle and played a much better game than he did in Week 2.
“This is a formula Mike Tomlin can win with — and has before — with the defense doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Take a peek at the schedule. Depending on your view of the Cowboys and Jets right now, the Steelers’ defense arguably doesn’t face a truly difficult test until the Ravens come to town — in Week 11!”
This is undoubtedly a formula that the Steelers can win with. They’ve shown it time and time again under Tomlin.
It isn’t pretty, but it doesn’t matter. It wins games, and the Steelers have perfected the art of winning games ugly. It’s just what they do.
