What Can These Steelers Be?

At 5-4, the Steelers are currently in control of their playoff fate as they sit in wild card position? But are they a Super Bowl contender? Are they even really a playoff contender?

With All pro center Maurkice Pouncey likely out of the year, offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum gone for the season and all world running back LeVeon Bell officially out of the year, in conjunction with the franchise QB, Big Ben getting hurt again, how far can they go?  The offense was explosive with Ben running the show against the Raiders this past Sunday. Landry Jones came in and got the job finished and he’s capable of filling in for a game or two. 

DeAngelo Williams destroyed the Raiders and he’s a more than capable back. He’s a starter, period. No, he’s not LeVeon Bell but he can certainly fill in nicely and carry the running game on his back. 

The offensive line hasn’t suffered too much without Pouncey or Beachum and when Big Ben does return, most likely against Seattle in a couple of weeks, the offense should be as good as ever. The wide receivers are still some of the best in the game with Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant at the top. 

The issue I see however is the defense.  They were torched by Oakland in all facets of the game. The secondary is not good, at all.  If the linebackers don’t get into the backfield, as they didn’t vs. Oakland, the defense can and will give up 30 points or more, putting an unnecessary pressure on the offense.

Playoff teams can get away with that but usually don’t go very far.  Imagine facing the top tier quarterbacks the playoffs usually see. Do the Steelers have a chance at beating them in the post season with a defense as porous as this? No, they don’t. 

So that rules out a Super Bowl contender.  With an upcoming schedule to close out the year seeing the Steelers play the Browns twice, the Ravens, the Bengals, the Seahawks, the Colts and the Broncos; they are looking at going 4-3 with 5-2 being the best case scenario in my opinion. 4-3 puts the team at 9-7 and just on the border of the post season. 5-2 brings them up to 10-6 and should get them in. 

So the answer is this, at least at the moment, the black and gold are a borderline playoff team with the potential to possibly get hot enough to lock in a spot in the tournament.

Beyond that, with the injuries sustained, the defensive inabilities and truly a lackluster job at the coaching level, this team will need to wait til next year to be anything more.