Tim Benz: Impact of Steelers win over Colts? Opposing defenses will tell that story

A popular question this week in Pittsburgh has been how to view the Steelers in the wake of their victory against the Indianapolis Colts.

Are they back to being the team that looked like a threat to go 16-0? Or was that win just a victory to stop the downward spiral against another AFC team that may have had a bloated record?

Personally, I don’t think how we view the Steelers on the outside of their locker room is important. I don’t even think it’s important how the Steelers view themselves.

What I think matters is how opposing defenses view them. That’s of chief importance.

Maybe not this week since the Steelers will rest some starters versus the Cleveland Browns. But potentially in Week 1 of the postseason if the teams should rematch. Or how the Colts view the Steelers after facing them first-hand if they play each other again.

How about the Tennessee Titans or Baltimore Ravens? Having gone a combined 0-3 against the Steelers and their short, rhythm passing game that worked so well over the first nine weeks of the season, what are they thinking now?

All those teams (along with the Miami Dolphins) are potential first-round playoff foes for the Steelers. And what the Steelers did on offense to the Colts could go a long way toward changing the minds of opposing coaches when they prepare for a first-round game against quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and company.

Because the book on the Steelers became clear in recent weeks. Forget worrying about the run. But crowd the box anyway to take away the short passes in front of the sticks. Dare them to beat you deep because they don’t want to try.

And they aren’t good at it when they do try.

The offensive line can’t hold up. The receivers can’t separate. And Roethlisberger can’t hit them when they do get space.

That was the obvious formula to beat the Steelers for the past month, all the way into the third quarter Sunday afternoon.

But offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner’s group forced a reconsideration Sunday. It stressed the Colts defensive backs. It forced them to cover the deep third of the field. It made the defensive backs reach and grab.

“I thought the catalysts for change were the splash plays on offense, the ability to connect down the field,” head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. “Not only the ones that we connected, but we had some penalty plays downfield that were field-flipping or changed the field positioning. I thought we rode that wave of chunk plays in an effort to produce points.”

Even if pass interference calls weren’t always worthy, Roethlisberger and the Steelers receivers put the officials in the position where they had to consider dropping the flag. And they did. Three times. And a fourth for illegal contact.

Officials tend to do that in favor of the offense when it tries to hit a big play and there is contact. Not so much if it is a third-down curl or crossing route three yards short of the sticks.

It became clear, as November dragged along for the Steelers’ puttering offense, that opposing defensive coordinators were finally believing what their eyes were telling them. The Steelers weren’t game planning in that manner because they wanted to operate that way. They were doing so because they needed to operate that way.

A reconfigured offensive line protecting a 38-year-old quarterback. An inexperienced group of receivers. No running game whatsoever. It took 10 weeks of seeing it to believe it. This is what the Steelers offense had become. It no longer features Pro Bowl talent up and down the depth chart as it did as recently as 2018. Delete your old memories.

Now the issue becomes do those same opposing coaches believe what their eyes told them in the last 20 minutes of that game against the Colts?

Do they back off as Indianapolis eventually had to do once Roethlisberger and his wideouts pressed them via deep completions or pass interference calls?

It didn’t take long for Indianapolis to do that. Then the underneath routes opened up again as a result. That’s when Roethlisberger found James Conner a handful of times out of the backfield and tight end Eric Ebron, too.

Opposing coaches may look at a wavering Indianapolis defense — one that has allowed 400 yards per game on average the last three weeks — and dismiss the passing game success as just taking advantage of a favorable matchup. Therefore, AFC playoff coaches may continue to challenge the Steelers in the same way Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo and Cincinnati did en route to four straight hideous offensive displays by the Steelers.

Or they might look at the Steelers and think the offense is back on track. And that the deep ball has to be honored again.

“I think we’ve been throwing in some new stuff,” Roethlisberger said after the win Sunday. “You have to take your shots when you’re there. We had a couple of big plays down the field.”

If it’s me and I’m coaching a playoff-caliber defense, I continue to press the Steelers offense until they make me back off. Let me see if my secondary can hold up better than Frank Reich’s did Sunday. Make the Steelers earn that respect that they can beat my squad up top.

If they can, maybe my playoff-caliber offense can win a shootout against a Steelers defense that is starting to wain under the pressures of an injury-plagued, taxing season.

Normally, Tomlin likes to talk about the answers being in his own room. In this case, I’m not entirely sure that they are. The answers may be in how the coaches in the other room view the Steelers after Sunday. And if they really still think Pittsburgh has an offense that can “give it to you however you want it.”

Or if it is a unit that can only do it one way — if you let them.

If it’s the former and the Steelers can open up options for themselves by at least showing the threat of being effective on deep and intermediate pass routes, look out. We can go back to thinking that the 11-0 start was representative of a team that can make a run in the AFC playoffs.

If it’s the latter and teams dare Roethlisberger to make throws down the field the Steelers can’t complete, then there will be only one way to view the Steelers.

On the way out of the locker room after another early playoff exit.

TribLive Steelers beat writer Joe Rutter joins me for Wednesday’s podcast. We look at the team’s victory over the Indianapolis Colts, the upcoming playoffs and Sunday’s season finale in Cleveland.