After seeing the Pittsburgh Steelers improve to 4-1 with a 23-9 victory over the 1-5 Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 The X has drawn two conclusions.

The first one is that, by Friday morning, they’ll be 5-1.

“I don’t see any way to lose to Cincinnati,” Madden said of the team’s Thursday night game against the Bengals. “I think the Bengals are that bad.”

Indeed, the Bengals are now 2-4 and have lost four in a row since an injury to quarterback Joe Burrow. But that’s still good enough to be the second-place team in the AFC North behind the Steelers.

“I’m not sure there is a second-best team in the AFC North,” Madden said on this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. “I know the Steelers went 10-3 to start last year, blew it, and didn’t win the division and lost in the wild card round. I think it would be really hard to blow the division now, because the Ravens (1-5) are just done. They’re banged up. Their quarterback is out. They are in the tank. Cincinnati never was that good to begin with, and their quarterback is out. So it would really be amazing if (the Steelers) don’t win the division.”

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Madden’s second epiphany wasn’t as encouraging.

“That said, I’m not that impressed by what they’ve done to date,” Madden added. “I’m not that impressed by what they did to beat Cleveland. When you’re ahead 9-3 at halftime at home against Cleveland, you haven’t painted a very pretty picture for the first 30 minutes.”

One thing Madden does feel good about with the Steelers is the defense — especially the secondary.

“For the first time since the price tag ($158.3 million) went way up, the defense really is playing elite. Not just good defense, but elite defense,” Madden stressed. “Against Cleveland, with all their secondary available, they showed a lot of different looks. (Jalen) Ramsey was involved in the blitz and got a couple of sacks. Joey Porter Jr. was really good coming back, too. DeShon Elliott was cranking people. I really like the defense in general, and the secondary in particular.”

We’ll see if that holds up against the Bengals in Cincinnati on Thursday night after the loss to the Green Bay Packers, 27-18, on Sunday. According to ESPNBet, the Steelers are 5½-point favorites on the road in that game.

Also during the podcast, Madden and I discuss James Franklin’s dismissal at Penn State, Mason Heintschel’s second win at Pitt, and the first three games of the Penguins’ 2025-26 season.

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