Mark Madden: Can Aaron Rodgers keep Mike Tomlin from living in his fears?

Mike Tomlin unloads lots of horse manure when he preaches to the media. One of Tomlin’s greatest hits is that nonsense about “not living in our fears.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers do just that all too frequently, not least when they’re in the red zone.

The Steelers lay up and settle for field goals constantly.

Last year they attempted 44 field goals, second-most in the NFL.

Their red-zone conversion percentage was 48.21%, fourth-worst in the NFL.

It seems philosophical: “Make sure we get three.” It’s lack of offensive daring combined with over-reliance on defense.

The Steelers provided a stupid reminder of that at Carolina on Thursday in their final exhibition game: They won 19-10, kicking four field goals. One field goal came after a pathetic 10-play, 8-yard drive. The Steelers were 1 for 4 in Carolina’s red zone.

It was only an exhibition game.

A lot of the starters didn’t play.

Relevancy moving forward was minimal.

But it looked disturbingly familiar.

It brought last year’s season opener to mind: An 18-10 win at Atlanta behind six Chris Boswell field goals.

Boswell is a great kicker, but his value is inflated by being used too much. If the Steelers scored more touchdowns, Boswell might not have the courage to hold in.

Scoring three points at a time won’t beat great teams that have great quarterbacks.

Scoring three points at a time gets you zero playoff wins in eight seasons.

The NFL isn’t that kind of league. Not anymore.

If Tomlin isn’t living in his fears, he’s living in the past. Today’s NFL is about scoring more and faster.

This absolutely must change if the Steelers are to break their postseason victory drought.

Aaron Rodgers must be the catalyst for that change.

Russell Wilson turned out to be a chicken-hearted phony-hype non-leader in his old age.

Rodgers seems more like a tough, craggy old coot who won’t take no for an answer. Or constantly settle for three. Perhaps it’s easier to see the end zone when the earth is flat.

I don’t want Rodgers to usurp Arthur Smith’s power and become the Steelers’ de facto offensive coordinator.

But when Rodgers talks, I want Smith and the Steelers to listen.

Pitt product Ben Sauls kicked all four field goals at Carolina.

But, with his hold-in lying dead in the gutter, Boswell booted the lone extra point. Get to work, kicker!

I wish Rodgers had played a bit during the exhibition campaign.

I get the logic of dodging injury risk.

But it wouldn’t be shocking if the Steelers and Rodgers came out flat Week 1 at the New York Jets, a must-win game given the Steelers’ likely lack of wiggle room to make the playoffs and the drama of the quarterback double-revenge angle. Rodgers losing to Justin Fields would be terrible, demoralizing optics.

The Steelers will probably win a rock fight.

Boswell will probably kick six field goals.