The Pittsburgh Steelers were expected to win on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals based on record and season trajectory alone, but the way in which they won was meaningful. The postseason win drought has lasted far too long, but the goal of winning in the playoffs finally seems achievable after the offense’s breakout performance.
“Everything was clicking for the Pittsburgh offense Sunday,” Ben Solak wrote via ESPN.com. “The fact the Steelers have this game in their range of outcomes — even if this was a total peak game — is an enormous deal. Remember, under the previous offensive coordinator Matt Canada, the Steelers went 44 games without generating more than 400 yards of offense.
“The hard ceiling on the offense limited their postseason viability, but that hard ceiling is no longer there.”
Yes, the Bengals have made a lot of offenses look very good this season, but there have been some other games where that was the case and the Steelers didn’t capitalize. The Dallas Cowboys come to mind, especially while they were missing DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons. What is important is they did their thing and lit up the Bengals for over 500 yards and 37 points on offense.
Everything was working. The run game was clicking right from the start, they were taking what the defense was giving them with checkdowns for big gains underneath, and then the explosive plays were coming in droves. They went punch for punch (and then some) with arguably the MVP of the league in Joe Burrow if his team didn’t consistently let him down.
Solak wrote it had been 1,422 days since a Steelers QB last threw for 400 yards. The last occasion wasn’t that impressive either as Ben Roethlisberger needed 68 pass attempts to get there. Wilson did it in 38 attempts, and it finally looked like Arthur Smith unleashed the full potential of his scheme as Wilson and the offense grew in confidence.
Are the Steelers guaranteed a playoff win? Of course not, but this is the best chance they’ve had since prime Ben Roethlisberger and the Killer B’s. They arguably have a better chance than those teams, too, because the defense was bad for most of those years. This is one of the most complete teams, including special teams, that the Steelers have fielded in a long time.
