Before the season began, expectations for the Pittsburgh Steelers were relatively low. The Steelers weren’t expected to be the worst team in the league by any stretch, but few gave them a fighting chance in the AFC North. Instead, the Baltimore Ravens were the unanimous favorite, and even the Cincinnati Bengals seemed to have more belief from the public.
Four weeks into the season, all of that’s been flipped on its head. The Steelers are 3-1, and Jeff Saturday thinks they have no excuse not to win the division at this point.
“No excuses,” Saturday said Wednesday on ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike. “And they played well last week. Like, their defense got after it, they played great run defense. They got after Minnesota, played physical. Feels like Aaron is getting comfortable. I still don’t love their run game, they’ve got some things to improve on that side. But for Pittsburgh, you gotta be sitting in the catbird seat going, ‘Hey, we got what this thing can do, and we’re gonna make it happen.’”
The idea of the Steelers winning the AFC North has become more popular, especially after their Week 4 win. But it makes sense. Pittsburgh sits alone in first place with a 3-1 record. Behind the Steelers are the Cincinnati Bengals, who won their first two games but have now had two ugly losses without Joe Burrow. Behind them are the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns, each of whom have one win. And for Baltimore, Lamar Jackson’s injury complicates things greatly.
That doesn’t mean the Steelers are just going to run away with things. Last year, they led the division by two games late in the year, yet went on to lose their last four regular-season games and staggered into the playoffs as a Wild Card team. A 10-3 team dropped to 10-7 quickly, showing just how fast things can fall apart in this league.
For the Steelers, there have been some warning signs. While they’ve won three games, they haven’t all been pretty. Their first two were extremely inconsistent victories. Even against the Minnesota Vikings last week, they nearly let things slip away at the end.
With a brutal back half of the schedule looming, things could get dicey as the season winds down. But for now the Steelers have to like their chances in the AFC North. If they can continue to stack winnable games, which the next few seem to be, they should be in great shape.