The Pittsburgh Steelers have put a quarter in the National Football League regular season jukebox, and it’s hard to describe precisely what kind of music is playing.
Some would argue that they are at the top of the charts and number one in your heart, with their 3-1 record, looking steely compared to the other seemingly tin foil hat teams in the AFC North Division.
After surprising most with a pivotal win over the Minnesota Vikings by the score of 24-21 last weekend in Dublin, Ireland, there was so much good cheer that it inspired DeShon Elliott and his closest friends to dance a jig in the endzone.
Was this performance evidence that the defense has fixed its blown gasket against the run this season and that the engine will operate without spurting oil moving forward?
Or was it more due to the fact that the Vikings’ offensive line was missing three starters, which means basically the Steelers’ Ones were playing against Minnesota’s Twos?
Is Pittsburgh leading its division rather decisively because of its dominance over its competition? Or is it because the Cincinnati Bengals are rudderless without Joe Burrow, and the Baltimore Ravens lost the NFL lottery and got stuck facing three of the top teams in the league to start their season?
Others will say that “The Song Remains the Same” despite their winning record because the on-field performances have been far shy of Super Bowl contender quality. Even if they make it into the playoffs, does this look like just another one of Coach Mike Tomlin’s one-and-done teams?
A couple of things can be agreed upon by both the team’s biggest critics and those who are foaming-at-the-mouth optimists:
1. The schedule is about to get much tougher.
2. The Steelers seem to be improving…and will need to continue their climb.
All their divisional games, along with tough outings against the Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Chargers, Detroit Lions, and Buffalo Bills, are still up ahead.
The Steelers could be singing an entirely different tune after these games are played. And it would be sung with a backing track of 12-bar Blues if things don’t go their way.
Pittsburgh faces the Ravens in Week 14 and Week 18 (the last game of the regular season), and you can put it down here as a board bet that these two games will matter a great deal by that time of the year. The Steelers will have to keep an eye on that rearview mirror.
Because of the Ravens’ soft schedule ahead, objects will be much closer than they appear in that mirror.
So, no Bye Weeks here. Let’s give it a Spin.
Payton’s Place
It’s been written about and said already in a few other places. Still, it’s worth highlighting here as well. Regardless of how Payton Wilson’s football career transpires in the years ahead, he’s already architected himself a play that will endure in Steelers lore.
The chasing down of the Vikings’ receiver Jordan Addison while attaining a top speed of 22.48 miles per hour in the process was a stunning, memorable sight. For comparison, KaVontae Turpin of the Dallas Cowboys posted the fastest time of a player in the entire 2024 season at 22.36 miles per hour.
Yeah…Wilson was booking.
From this vantage point, Wilson has too much talent, too much desire, and too much of a work ethic not to find great success in the NFL.
His dramatic pursuit reminds a bit of Antonio Brown’s breakout play in the early days of his career when he secured a deep pass by pressing the football against the side of his helmet. Up until that play, he was an unknown on the roster.
The same goes for Ike Taylor’s first interception in 2004. It was a beautiful acrobatic display of athleticism, enhanced in impact because it was against Tom Brady. Until that point in his career, there were looming questions about whether Taylor was even NFL-grade.
Perhaps “The Chase Down” will be etched into Pittsburgh’s reel of most memorable defensive plays and just the opening salvo of a plethora of Payton Wilson career highlights.
Queen Takes Pawn
It’s possible that the Vikings’ lack of NFL-starting-quality offensive linemen last weekend had more to do with this than anything else, but Wilson wasn’t the only one who had an excellent game.
Inside linebacker Patrick Queen finished the game with 8 tackles, 3 assists, and a sack. Most importantly, he looked like the player Steelers Nation was excited to see infused into the defense when he joined as a free agent in March 2024.
In the first few games of the year, Queen and Wilson were the prime suspects behind a criminally negligent run defense. The jury is still deliberating, but the defense’s case is trending in the right direction.
Things Are Lining Up
Without question, the Steelers’ biggest concern at the beginning of the season was line play on both sides of the ball. This was not just because the team was performing below the line, but also because so many draft and free agent resources had been invested in these trench athletes.
The offensive line had been unable to protect Aaron Rodgers from harm and lacked any push for the running game. Meanwhile, everyone was pushing the defensive line around.
It doesn’t seem to be a random act of kindness that fortunes changed on the defense once Derrick Harmon returned from injury. His impact was immediate, and his play raised the boats around him.
One boat in particular was raised high, and it’s that of the much-maligned Keeanu Benton. The growing concern was that Benton was overmatched and undersized at the nose tackle position, and his unwillingness to be a team player with his technique was causing all the cards to fall on the Steelers’ run defense.
That all changed against the Vikings, where he ended up with 1.5 sacks, four tackles, and three quarterback hits, and could arguably be considered the game’s MVP.
Benton flashed true promise in his rookie season, so it’s baffling that he wasn’t able to carry his weight until the Vikings game.
Hopefully, all that was needed was some confidence and a friendly, massive nudge from Harmon.
Juiced Ball
What is going on with field goal kicking in the National Football League? Some are calling it the golden era of kicking in the NFL. Others are maligning the trend of long-distance kicks as contributing to the ruin of the sport.
With placekickers making somewhere around 70% of their efforts from 50 yards and beyond, NFL offenses have so much less heavy lifting to do.
With the NFL’s generous new kickoff return rules, it’s now common for offenses to get started at the 30 and even 40-yard lines. This means they are beginning their drives only a midrange pass away from being able to trot their little guy onto the field.
When Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Cam Little hit a 70-yard field goal during the preseason, it meant his offense didn’t even have to advance the ball into enemy territory before he let it rip.
Although this may be Hollywood spotlight days for kickers, don’t expect their gold to keep glittering. At some point, to make these games more touchdown-dependent again, the NFL Rules Committee will consider either moving the posts back…or narrowing them up.
Don’t be surprised if that happens in 2026.
Bye Something Nice For Yourself
Probably about three weeks from now, the Steelers will be bemoaning the fact that their Bye Week came so early in the year. That will be about the time the players start deeply experiencing the abuse a body takes from these elongated seasons.
However, this is the hand they’ve been dealt, so they ought to play their cards to their full value. Have a good time, fellas, for a solid day or two.
But then it’s back to the lab because this team has a lot of fixing to do.
Considering the Minnesota game could be considered the Steelers’ best game of the year, it’s important to remember that the Vikings outgained them 372 yards on offense to 313.
This was a continuation of a disturbing trend. The season totals during the first quarter are 1,054 yards for the good and 1,530 for the bad. The Steelers’ defense has been run over, and the offense has been anemic.
If not for the large spate of turnovers they received, this team could easily be 0-4, already turning their focus to the play of collegiate seniors.
Nobody should be resting on any laurels. The “Repairs in Process” signs should be hung all over the Steelers’ training facility.
The Steelers have a head start on their competition, but the instruments they’ve been playing have been decidedly out of tune.
If this team is going to win a Grammy this year, this Bye Week will be quintessentially important.
We’re about to put another quarter in the jukebox. Hopefully, the Irish jigs will continue.
