Madden Monday: 'What you saw the Steelers do is what the Steelers are'

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 41-10 defeat in Cincinnati Sunday was distasteful on every level.

An anemic offense. A Swiss cheese defense. Silly penalties and ill-timed drops.

But as Mark Madden pointed out during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, one particular element sticks out beyond all else.

“It’s the Bengals. It’s the team you have bullied forever and a team that hasn’t swept you since 2009. That didn’t sweep you before that since 1998,” Madden said. “Now they’ve beaten you twice. And it wasn’t close either game. What you saw the Steelers do, is what the Steelers are.”

Madden is right about that. The Bengals won the first game in Week 3 by a final score of 24-10. And if they needed to score more points in that one, they could’ve. And the Bengals were up 34-3 after three quarters Sunday. If they needed to hit 50 points, they could have without breaking a sweat.

How come? Well, Madden says the problem is … everything.

“There’s not one area you can blame and say, ‘This is what’s most wrong.’ And if you fix it, you are a big part of the way back,” Madden said. “The quarterback (stinks). The coaching (stinks). The defense (stinks). The offensive line (stinks). I don’t know what doesn’t (stink). If we are being honest, tell me something that doesn’t (stink).”

Gimme a minute. I’ll get there.

OK. Gimme two minutes.

Cameron Heyward! Ha! There. Cam Heyward.

But even he struggled against the run Sunday as he was asked to play nose tackle a lot given a shortage of options along the defensive line.

Madden said don’t fall back on the lazy analysis that replacing Ben Roethlisberger will fix everything next year. First of all, the team will need to somehow acquire the likes of Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers or Deshaun Watson to even make that type of conversation possible.

“I don’t think a quarterback can fix the offense,” Madden said. “They are not going to get one of any repute … Why would a Rodgers or a Wilson or a Deshaun Watson want to come to Pittsburgh given what they would have to work with? Especially with a subpar offensive line that has gotten worse over the course of this year?”

Actually, I wouldn’t say that the offensive line has gotten worse. I’d just say that it is regressing back to the level we saw at the start of the season.

That, in and of itself, is bad enough.

Another option is to select a highly ranked, first-round caliber quarterback in the draft. Could that be Pitt’s Kenny Pickett?

Madden and I discuss that prospect in the podcast. We also look at the Panthers’ upcoming ACC championship game against Wake Forest. And we talk some hockey as the Penguins saw their five-game win streak end against the Montreal Canadiens over the weekend.

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss the Steelers loss to Bengals