Madden Monday: 'It’s time to stop pretending the Steelers are all that good, because they are not'

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ apologist spin cycle is in full gear after the team’s embarrassing 16-16 tie against the Detroit Lions Sunday.

“It’s no big deal. The Steelers played with their backup quarterback. Every other top team in the AFC has suffered a surprising loss within the last few weeks. At least the Steelers didn’t lose!”

Technically.

TribLIVE columnist and 105.9 The X host Mark Madden won’t have any of that conversation during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast.

“The argument for (the Steelers) being a playoff team or even being a contender for the AFC North title has been, ‘Well, look at how bad these other teams are,’” Madden explained. “Baltimore might have lost to Miami. And Cleveland got crushed by New England. But the Steelers tied an 0-8 team. And that’s worse than what happened to Baltimore or Cleveland.”

As Madden pointed out, the Steelers are now beyond the halfway point in the NFL’s first 17-game season. And they only have five wins. As flawed as all the other AFC teams are, the Steelers are likely going to need to split their last eight games to get to 9-7-1 to make the playoffs.

At least.

If that’s the case, can we find four wins among the following games?

•11/21 … Los Angeles Chargers (5-4) (Away)

•11/28 … Cincinnati Bengals (5-4) (Away)

•12/5 … Baltimore Ravens (6-3) (Home)

•12/9 … Minnesota Vikings (4-5) (Away)

•12/19 … Tennessee Titans (8-2) (Home)

•12/26 … Kansas City Chiefs (6-4) (Away)

•1/3 … Cleveland Browns (5-5) (Home)

•1/9 … Baltimore Ravens (6-3) (Away)

The “easiest” game would appear to be one against Vikings. But even that one will be a Thursday night road contest.

The biggest issue for the Steelers will be the boost in quarterback play they’ll be seeing. Of the top 12 quarterbacks in passing yards entering play Sunday, six of them (Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson (twice), Kirk Cousins and Ryan Tannehill) remain on the Steelers schedule.

As Madden put it, “Now the big kids show up on the playground” over the final eight weeks.

“I keep getting told that L.A. is not all that good. Cincinnati is not all that good. Heck, they can beat Baltimore. Well, none of those teams tied a winless team,” Madden said. “It’s time to stop pretending the Steelers are all that good because they are not.”

Also during the podcast, we talk about the woes of the Pittsburgh Penguins. They were outscored 12-4 in back-to-back losses in Ottawa and Washington.

We also discuss those Bryan Reynolds trade rumors, Mason Rudolph’s performance against Detroit and Madden’s new podcast project with Ric Flair.

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss the Steelers’ tie with the Lions