Tim Benz: Time for national media to stop pretending that the Steelers' lousy start is a surprise

Regarding his team’s dreadful 1-4 start, I agree with at least one point Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin made during his press conference Tuesday afternoon.

“We didn’t dig ourselves into this circumstance in one day, so we’re not going to dig ourselves out of this circumstance in one day or one performance,” Tomlin said.

Yeah. No doubt. On either front.

In terms of “digging their way out,” you aren’t going to see these forlorn Steelers flip a switch and go from a 38-3 loss in Buffalo to a 38-3 win over Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. And you certainly aren’t going to see them turn a four-game losing streak into a four-game winning streak.

Not with a rookie quarterback, a shoddy defense, a pieced-together offensive line, dropsy receivers, an absent run game and an injury list that reads longer than “War and Peace.”

This team is now in baby-steps mode. If they even cover the eight-point spread against Tampa on Sunday, it’ll be seen as significant progress.

As far as how they “dug themselves into this,” Tomlin is right about that, too. Maybe he is more right than he wants to admit.

I think what the coach was getting at there was, “38-3 in Buffalo wasn’t the first sign of how much trouble we are in at this point.”

True. But I’ll take it much further than that.

More Steelers coverage:

• First Call: Steelers work out former Pitt wide receiver; Bills praise Kenny Pickett; Logan Cooley update
• Mike Tomlin not 'reading too much into' Steelers frustrations after lopsided loss to Bills
• Tim Benz: Steelers guard James Daniels says NFL office prevented his ejection in Buffalo
• NFL rules analyst Gene Steratore on flags for QB hits: 'Refs are screwing up'

The hole the Steelers dug for themselves predates Buffalo, the blown fourth-quarter lead against the New York Jets, the blown halftime lead in Cleveland and the underwhelming finish against the New England Patriots.

It’s funny to hear national outlets feign shock and awe over the Steelers being no good. Jim Nantz and Tony Romo sounded stunned at times that the Steelers were down three or four touchdowns during the CBS broadcast in Buffalo. Mike Greenberg, on ESPN’s “Get Up,” recently asked, “Why do they look so bad?” Former Steeler Ryan Clark, also on ESPN, acted incredulous this week that the Steelers appear so feeble this season, trying to pin their poor play on a lack of “fight.”

Guys, why? Why the act? Why the selective memories and commentary?

You’ve all seen this from the Steelers recently. This isn’t new. This isn’t Halley’s Comet. The Steelers have been getting outclassed on national stages on a regular basis for years now. Blowouts like the ones against the Bills are common. So are some of these awful starts to seasons.

To say nothing of late-season declines.

• Last year alone, they lost to Kansas City 36-10 and Cincinnati 41-10 in the regular season. They trailed Minnesota 29-0 in the third quarter before storming back to at least make that one close. They fell to K.C. a second time, 42-21, in a playoff game that was 35-7 in the third quarter.

• After limping into the 2020 playoffs losing five of six games to close out the year, they got down 28-0 in the first quarter before losing their first-round postseason game 48-37 at home to a coronavirus-addled Cleveland Browns team. An 8-5 team collapsed down the stretch to miss the playoffs in 2019. A 7-2-1 team did the same thing to miss the playoffs in 2018.

• Their 45-42 playoff loss to Jacksonville in 2017 started off with a 21-0 hole. That was after their 36-17 AFC Championship loss in New England back in 2016.

• The once-vaunted Steel Curtain didn’t start to rust in the fourth quarter against New England last month. It was the worst rush defense in the league a season ago.

• And as far as bad starts to seasons go, these aren’t exactly uncharted waters for Tomlin either. They were 1-3 at the start of last season. The Steelers were 1-4 in 2019 (and before you say it, Ben Roethlisberger started the first two games). They were 1-2-1 to begin 2018. They were 0-4 and 2-6 out of the gates in 2013.

So, what we are seeing from the 2022 Steelers is hardly unprecedented. But, in a strange way, I’m sure when the national media presents it that way, it feels good to them. Like they are giving Tomlin and the Steelers an out. As if this first month is a fluke or an aberration.

It’s easier to advance that narrative than it is to ever criticize a hallmark franchise of the league and a coach who has never had a losing season. It’s easier to pretend that we’ve never seen this coming than it is to call the Steelers what they really are — a long-time average football team that’s been flirting with hitting an iceberg for a few years.

Well, don’t look now, but I think I see one floating down the Allegheny.

One thing the national media types have been right about is we don’t know what a five- or six-win season looks like around here. But maybe they are not really good at informing us when one is coming either.

I asked Tomlin if it was important to know how they dug this hole he referenced in the first place. In other words, just in case they actually can dig themselves out of it by December or something, will they know how to avoid falling back into it again?

“It’s about the development of players and concepts. That’s what it’s about,” Tomlin said. “Our windshield is bigger than our rear view. We can waste a lot of time talking about things that have transpired.”

Tomlin has won 155 games in this league. Seven division crowns, two conference championships and a Super Bowl. He may want to glance in his own rearview mirror from time to time over the next few months just to cheer himself up.

I bet the view will be a lot nicer than when he starts looking through the windshield again. That iceberg is getting awfully close.