Tim Benz: Steelers unbeaten status starting to feel very shaky

For an 11-0 team, the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have a lot to be happy about of late.

And they seem to be acutely aware of that.

To steal a line from Mike Tomlin, the only thing perfect about this group is its record. Over the past month, everything else has been far short of perfection.

After the first seven games of the season, we were collectively asking, “Where is there a loss to be found on the rest of the schedule?” Now the question seems to be, “How long before they absorb one?”

Monday night against 4-7 Washington? Next Sunday at 8-3 Buffalo? For a long time, that Bills game looked like a contest the Steelers may lose if they aren’t careful. Now it feels like one they’ll be lucky to win.

How has the tone turned so abruptly while the Steelers have somehow stayed unbeaten?

Well, questions began to arise in Week 8 after a surprisingly shaky 24-19 win in Dallas against fourth-string quarterback Garrett Gilbert. Then it took four turnovers to put a spotty offense in position often enough to dispatch Jake Luton and the one-win Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 10.

Up next, there was the hideous “Covid Bowl” victory on Wednesday afternoon against the barely-NFL-worthy iteration of a coronavirus-addled Baltimore Ravens franchise.

The Steelers can’t run the ball. They are 25th in the league at 99.1 yards per game. They are having trouble stopping the run, too. Over the last five weeks, the defense has allowed, on average, 150 yards on the ground. That would be 30th in the league for a 2020-season-long pace.

Not to mention that the club may have to play Washington Monday night without seven starters from the opening day lineup: Zach Banner, Devin Bush, Bud Dupree, James Conner, Maurkice Pouncey, Steven Nelson and Chris Boswell. They are all either injured or in the covid-19 protocol. The first three names on that list are done for the year.

Oh, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger appeared on the injury report this week with a balky knee.

Let’s not pretend that the Steelers are sailing along, blissfully unaware of the storm clouds gathering overhead.

• After the win against the Ravens Wednesday, Tomlin roasted his team in all areas, calling their performance “junior varsity.”

• On Uninterrupted’s “17 Weeks” podcast on Sirius XM/Pandora, tight end Eric Ebron popped off about the NFL making the Steelers play three games in 12 days.

• Guard David DeCastro admitted the constant rescheduling of Wednesday’s Baltimore game, Dupree’s second-half injury and the ongoing lack of fans in the stands began to erode the team’s emotional levels.

“Last week, the biggest thing was losing Bud,” DeCastro said over the weekend. “The game itself, you could kind of feel it during the week. Change the game. Change the time. Push it back again. And then the no fans thing. It felt a little dead out there. Playing on a Wednesday. At the beginning of the season, it was a whole new atmosphere, and you had this rush in the early season. Now in December with no fans, you’re like ‘What are we doing out here?’ a little bit.”

If it is possible for a team to simultaneously be 11-0 and somehow still on the brink, the 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers are exactly that.

For a team that felt like it was potentially going 16-0, I’m now wondering if this group is more likely to go 2-3 over its last five games or 3-2. Maybe even 1-4 over its last five versus 4-1 if things go sideways versus Washington.

Remember, the Steelers still have to play the Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns. Those teams have a combined record of 25-10.

For 11 weeks now, a lot of national pundits have gone out of their way to undercut the Steelers’ unbeaten start. The claim is that the Steelers are overrated.

I still maintain the concept is flawed. It’s not college football. Reality is greater than perception in the NFL.

Efforts to dismiss the Steelers’ record based on strength of schedule, quality of wins and margin of victory wobble when comparing numbers to some of the other AFC contenders when you really start to dissect the numbers.

Where the critics may have a point, though, is forecasting the future of the team, as opposed to useless attempts to diminish their accomplishments thus far in 2020. A loss to Washington Monday would certainly go a long way toward underscoring their arguments.

Somehow the Steelers appear to be a team that needs to stop the bleeding, even though they have yet to suffer a cut.

I don’t think the wound will open Monday evening either. But I don’t feel good about it. I’ve got the Steelers winning 19-18.

Just don’t look at me for a Tuesday column expressing shock and awe if that result goes the other way.