It is pretty obvious which team is the class of the AFC at the moment. The back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are the only undefeated team remaining in the NFL, so all other teams are measured against their standard. Should the Pittsburgh Steelers win on Monday Night Football tonight, they will be one of three teams with six wins in that next tier behind the Chiefs. With renewed hope at the quarterback position via Russell Wilson, how much of a threat does that make the Steelers?
Former NFL DL and current ESPN radio host Chris Canty believes they need to be in that conversation so long as Wilson maintains his level of play.
“Are they a true Super Bowl contender?” Canty asked of the Steelers via ESPN’s UnSportsmanLike. “…If you get the version of Russell Wilson that we saw against the New York Jets, if that’s what he’s going to be for the rest of the year, then the Pittsburgh Steelers need to be added to the chat as teams that could potentially knock off the Chiefs on the way to the Super Bowl.”
Over the first six weeks of the season, Justin Fields led the Steelers to a 4-2 record. It looked pretty good, and was slowly getting better, but nobody was talking about them as a team that could go punch for punch with teams like the Chiefs. The offense was barely able to score two touchdowns per game, and when the defense showed any signs of weakness, it was very clear that the offense could not provide the spark.
With Wilson, there is at least some hope that could change. It is a one-game sample size, but he had a 10.0 adjusted net yards per passing attempt figure. That is almost double what Fields was giving the team over the first six games. That figure will come down a bit for Wilson, but it shows what he can do for the offense. He was making the deep passing game work, and he was spreading the ball around to a variety of targets. It was a way more balanced passing attack, which allowed for a way more balanced offense.
The Steelers’ defense is championship ready, and the special teams units have been providing plenty of splash. They don’t need the offense to be excellent, but if they can just be good then this is absolutely a team that can compete with anyone in the league.
There will be a preview of a possible playoff matchup between the Steelers and Chiefs on Christmas day. It will be at Acrisure Stadium, so the Steelers will have a prime opportunity to make a statement just before the start of the playoffs that they are one of the teams to beat in the AFC playoff field.
Wilson threw three touchdown passes on his way to a 24-9 win over the Chiefs last year with the Denver Broncos. At his best, he is absolutely capable of going toe to toe with Patrick Mahomes. Now it is just a matter of seeing if his Steelers debut was a fluke, or if that is the level of play we can come to expect from him in black and gold.
