Tim Benz: With 13 games to go for the Steelers, we should still ask 'how' while counting 'how many'

As the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to hit their bye weekend at roughly the quarter pole of their 17-game regular season, they do so with results outpacing the process.

At this point in the calendar — and upon taking a quick glance at the standings — maybe that’s OK.

Four games into 2025, the Steelers are 3-1. They are in first place in the AFC North. The 4-0 Buffalo Bills are the only club in the AFC with a better record.

Elsewhere in the North, the Cincinnati Bengals are 2-2, but have lost both games by a combined score of 76-13 since starting quarterback Joe Burrow went down. The reigning division champion Baltimore Ravens are 1-3 against a brutal schedule and are currently decimated by injuries. Quarterback Lamar Jackson is hurt, as are seven defensive starters.

Plus, there are the Cleveland Browns languishing at 1-3 as well.

Aside from the Bills, the rest of the conference has been underwhelming early in 2025. Even the second-best team in the AFC so far — the 3-1 Los Angeles Chargers — just lost to the previously winless New York Giants, 21-18. The defending AFC champion Chiefs and the allegedly rising Denver Broncos are only 2-2. Yet they appear to be the second and third best teams in the conference, unless you believe in the two 3-1 franchises in the AFC South — Indianapolis and Jacksonville.

Seeing as how they were a combined 12-22 last year, most assuredly, I do not.

All that adds up to the Steelers being in a really good spot one month into the NFL’s four-month campaign.

And if that’s all you want to hear, stop reading right now. Because, at this point, we are going to start talking about the manner in which the Steelers got to where they are.

Those details may not be as enjoyable.

The Steelers’ three wins have come against the 2-2 Minnesota Vikings (who lost 22-6 to Atlanta) and two teams that failed to make the AFC playoffs last year, the New England Patriots and the New York Jets.

The organization’s one loss was to Seattle by 14 points at home, and the Seahawks are also projected to be on the NFC-playoff fence.

The Steelers’ three victories have come by a total of 12 points against teams that are a combined 4-8. After four games, the Steelers are 29th in total offense at 263.5 yards per game. The team’s defense is also 29th at 382.5 yards allowed per game.

At 183.5 passing yards per contest, the Steelers are 25th in that category. Posting just 80 yards per game on the ground paces the team at 31st in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers is averaging only 4.8 average intended air yards per pass attempt, last in the NFL.

Those are numbers must improve in order for the Steelers to compete if they get in the playoffs.

“Forget my perception of it,” Mike Tomlin said Sunday in Dublin. “We’re 3-1, and that’s all that matters. Would I like to be 4-0? Certainly. But we are what we are. I’ve learned not to kid myself. You are what your record says you are. So that’s what we are going into the bye, and I can take it.”

Many people outside of that locker room don’t have that same “perception” as Tomlin does. They just look at the team and wonder how it is physically possible that the Steelers have won three of four.

Especially when they nearly blew an 18-point lead in Ireland.

Especially when they were tied 14-14 with New England in a game they ultimately won by only one score despite five Patriots turnovers.

Especially when they could’ve lost to the 0-4 Jets if not for a 60-yard field goal from Chris Boswell and a fumbled kickoff by New York.

To say nothing of yielding 1,530 yards in four games. Those numbers say who you are as well.

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The record also says the Steelers are on pace to be a 12- or 13-win team. Baltimore’s record says the Ravens will only win four or five games.

If Jackson isn’t badly hurt, do we think either number is true for them? A week ago, the national pundits were speaking like the Steelers were fraudulent. Now they are “in the driver’s seat” in the AFC North.

It’s Week 5. We haven’t even gassed up the car yet. There is no “driver’s seat.”

In fact, at BetRivers.com, Baltimore is still a minus-190 favorite to win the division. Unless they get bad news about Jackson — or until the Steelers beat them in December with a better record already in hand — they should be.

Tomlin seems to have a Michael Douglas-Glenn Close style “Fatal Attraction” relationship to one-score games. He’s 105-65-2 in them in his career. What’s more eye-catching, the 105 wins? Or the fact that he has been in 172 of them in the first place?

Those results can go either way. For every Antonio Brown “Immaculate Extension” win over Baltimore, there is a tie against a 3-13-1 Lions team, or a 21-18 home loss to Bailey Zappe and the 4-13 Patriots.

I’d argue the record is better than how the Steelers have truly played. I’ll also argue that the division and the conference are allowing the Steelers to be in a better spot than we ever thought imaginable, given some of those stats referenced above.

Oh, and with Cleveland and Cincinnati coming out of the bye.

A favorite sports axiom is “They never ask how, they only ask how many.” At the end of an NFL season, that’s true.

With three months to project where this whole thing is going, however, I think it’s still appropriate to ask “How.”

The “how many” will work itself out when Irish Guinness in late September gives way to New Year’s champagne in early January.