Tim Benz: Steelers back on schedule, despite winding road to get there

A month ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers fan base would’ve gladly signed up for this.

In blood.

At 1-3, with two AFC losses at home under their belts already, the notion of the Steelers being 4-3 with a win over the Cleveland Browns sounded too good to be true.

Especially with eminently winnable games against the Chicago Bears (3-5) and Detroit Lions (0-8) looming next.

It seemed like fantasy. But that 4-3 mark is now for real. Now a 6-3 record with wins against those two struggling teams from the NFC North is sitting out there to be had as well.

During training camp, even diehard Steelers optimists would have had a hard time projecting a fate much better than 6-3 through the season’s first nine weeks. With contests against the likes of Cleveland, the Buffalo Bills and the Green Bay Packers dotting that path, assuming seven wins would’ve been wishful thinking. Not to mention a Seattle Seahawks team that was expected to have Russell Wilson at quarterback instead of Geno Smith.

Even a projection of 5-2 over the first seven weeks may have been viewed as a little cockeyed.

Dare we say it? Are these Steelers actually on schedule? I think they are. Strange as that may seem given the winding road they took to get here.

A surprising season-opening road win against the AFC runner-up Buffalo Bills followed by two upset losses at home against non-playoff teams from Las Vegas and Cincinnati. Not to mention a game where they just looked outclassed in the second half against the Green Bay Packers.

To win three in a row after traveling down that twisting path strikes me as being a gift from the football gods.

But we shouldn’t be entirely surprised. After all, the Steelers are following what has become a normal pattern of theirs the past few years, prior to 2020’s 11-0 start.

• Struggle a bit coming out of the gate.

• Get hot in October and November.

• Fade after Thanksgiving and through December.

Avoiding that last part is the next key for these Steelers. That’ll be hard to do in 2021. Following their next two games against Chicago and Detroit, the Steelers will only get one game against a team currently with a sub-.500 record. That’s a road date on a Thursday night against the 3-4 Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 9. Aside from that, the Steelers have seven games against AFC teams who all have records above .500.

They include return matchups against the Bengals and Browns, both divisional games against the Baltimore Ravens, a home date against the Tennessee Titans and road games versus the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs.

Even if the Steelers get to 6-3, finding four wins in those remaining eight games isn’t exactly a walk in the park. It’s conceivable that 10 wins — at least — will be necessary to grab one of the AFC’s three wild card slots.

Therefore, this is why those who were saying the Steelers were destined to be 9-8 or 10-7 probably didn’t deserve the “cynic” tag from so many Terrible Towel wavers who assumed 11 or 12 wins was a foregone conclusion.

Just because last year’s edition backed into 12-4 after an 11-0 start.

The reality of the Steelers situation may seem harsh. It’s also somewhat expected. Even if the route they took to get here was a bit off the beaten path.

Coach Mike Tomlin’s team has hardly been teaching a course in NFL GPS navigation. It’s more like jotting down directions at a gas station from, say, Glassport to McCandless on a scrap of paper.

You can probably get there from here. But it’s gonna take a while. You are going to take a few wrong turns. And you might find yourself cursing under your breath a lot.

Hopefully, by the end of the trip, it’s worth the ride.