Searching for answers after a three-game winless slide, the Pittsburgh Steelers are taking a closer look at their practice habits.

That’s if the random sampling of two players made available to media Monday are any indication.

In the wake of Sunday’s humiliating 41-10 loss at the Cincinnati Bengals, among the solutions offered by safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and receiver Chase Claypool for righting the Steelers’ ship tended to focus on practice.

“Whether it’d be getting more reps in practice, whether that be going at a faster pace during walk-throughs and stuff like that,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s my personal opinion.”

Speaking about an hour and 45 minutes after Fitzpatrick, Claypool was asked what he thought could be done to make practices better.

“This is something I have said since I was in college: (the Steelers) never had it, but I think some music would help,” Claypool said. “We had music in the warm-ups and that stuff is fun. People are dancing, having fun, so I think maybe music would make practice a little more fun and a little more up-tempo.

“That’s my one suggestion, but Coach T (Mike Tomlin) has been doing this a lot longer than I have.”

It was after the game that started the Steelers’ winless streak — a 16-16 tie with the winless Detroit Lions on Nov. 14 — that a mini-controversy was started over how the Steelers practice. Linebacker Joe Schobert, seemingly in passing, said the team needed to “take practice serious.”

Some took it as an indictment on how the Steelers approached their work week. But Tomlin extinguished any burgeoning questions about it by saying: “I have no issue with how we practice, and I’m sure Joe doesn’t. I’m sure he was just answering questions after a football game.”

Fitzpatrick and Claypool were speaking the day after a game in which the Steelers were dominated and during which there were lapses in myriad areas: missed tackles, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties, blown assignments defensively, miscommunications on offense.

Claypool said the Steelers deserved any criticism they get after such an effort.

“Definitely, I think, after a performance like that,” Claypool said.

With a list of issues so long and varied, singling out a priority for improvement isn’t easy. But a defense that has allowed two of the past three opposing running backs to set career-highs in rushing yards might be paramount among the concerns.

The Steelers are allowing an average of 195.3 rushing yards during the three-game winless stretch.

“There are multiple reasons,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have to figure out what’s going on and diagnose it, make necessary changes and keep moving because we are a talented defense. We are a team that should be playing at a higher caliber, especially this point of the season.”

At 5-5-1, the Steelers are in last place in the AFC North — but they can pull to within 1½ games of first place with a victory Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.

The remaining schedule is difficult — four of the six games are against teams in first place and none are against a team with a record worse than the 5-6 Minnesota Vikings. But it also provides opportunity, particularly if the Steelers can win both meetings with the Ravens.

Asked directly if the Steelers had a run in them to get to the playoffs, Claypool said, “definitely.”

“I think it’d be a bad look to kind of give up on the season because of one bad game,” he said. “I am sure there are a lot of teams in the past who got blown out early in the season and then came back and ended well. So, we just have to look towards to that point. We have a lot of work to do, but I just think we need some things to go right for us and keep our head up.”

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