'Nice to see those teams lose': Steelers invigorated by AFC North struggles during bye

After the Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up the first practice following their bye weekend, they weren’t bashful about acknowledging what they had witnessed within their own division during their downtime.

“Every AFC North game, I watched,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “It was nice to see those teams lose this week. We’ve got to take advantage of it these next couple of games, especially since we have two AFC North teams coming up. We have to be able to start 2-0 in the division to set the tone for the year.”

That pretty much sums it up. While the Steelers were resting, all three of their AFC North foes lost.

This week’s opponent, the Cleveland Browns, fell to Minnesota in England, 21-17. Next Thursday’s opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, dropped a 37-24 decision at home to Detroit, and the defending division champion Baltimore Ravens were pummeled by Houston, 44-10.

That means the Steelers are atop the division at 3-1. Cincinnati is next at 2-3. Both Cleveland and Baltimore are at 1-4.

And after blowing a two-game lead within the division last year, returning Steelers players know the importance of stretching out whatever advantage they currently have.

Especially at a time on the calendar when they have divisional games looming, coming off a bye.

And they are relatively healthy. And they are winning. And their opponents are banged up and losing.

“You have to play until Game 17. Especially in this division, you never know what can happen,” linebacker Payton Wilson said. “There are some really good teams and really good players in this division. Teams can get hot or teams can get cold — kind of how we did last year. So you have to go into every week like it’s a brand new week and try to go 1-0.”

To underscore Wilson’s point, in recent years, few teams have personified the NFL adage of “it’s not just who you play, it’s when you play them” as the Steelers have.

• In 2019, the Steelers started 1-4 as they got used to life without an injured Ben Roethlisberger. Then they won seven of eight, before dropping three straight at the end of the year.

• In 2020, Pittsburgh started 11-0 before finishing 12-4 and losing a first-round playoff game.

• Pre-bye in 2022, the Steelers were 2-6. After the bye, upon T.J. Watt’s return, they went 7-2.

• The 2023 Steelers opened December at 7-4, only to lose three in a row against non-playoff teams before putting Mason Rudolph in at quarterback to close 3-0 and secure a playoff bid at 10-7.

Then there was last year’s five-game losing streak to end what had been a great start (10-3) to the first 13 games of the season.

Right now, the Browns are 1-4, and rookie QB Dillon Gabriel will be playing in his first true road game at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday after piloting a loss against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday afternoon in England.

The 2-3 Bengals — who host Pittsburgh on Oct. 16, a Thursday — have lost three in a row with Jake Browning replacing an injured Joe Burrow. And the Ravens’ injury list is almost as long as their entire roster.

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They are all extremely vulnerable, and the Steelers can exploit those weaknesses if they take care of their own business.

“It’s a chance for us to capitalize early. We’ve got division back-to-back games. So we could definitely get a lead, jump out quick on that and set ourselves up late in the season,” linebacker Patrick Queen said.

They could, indeed.

They should, actually.

In fact, they better.

Because after the Browns and Bengals, the Steelers’ next three opponents (Green Bay, Indianapolis and the L.A. Chargers) are a combined 9-4-1.

But as we chronicled above, recent history (2020 and 2023 in particular) suggests that when the schedule seems to be set up to benefit the Steelers the most, that’s when they tend to put forth some of their most maddening efforts of any given season.

Now would be a good time for Mike Tomlin’s team to halt that trend.