Pittsburgh Steelers: Poor play is acceptable in AFC North
The Pittsburgh Steelers are not the dominating team everyone expected them to be, but in the AFC North, that’s okay.
Through five weeks, Pittsburgh is easily one the most disappointing teams in the AFC. At 3-2, this team should be miles ahead of where they are, but right now, they’re still figuring out most of their offense, and their defense is hit or miss on a weekly bases.
Luckily, they’re in a division who’s following suit. While no one expected the Cleveland Browns to do anything special this season, but Baltimore and Cincinnati didn’t come into the season with the expectations of starting under .500.
Pittsburgh has plenty of room to improve. However, there isn’t aspect of this team do dyer to hold them out of first place of the division. Right now, they may be worse than they should be, but until the rest of these teams start to click, which won’t happen, there’s nothing to worry about.
On top of it all, Pittsburgh doesn’t have to worry about homefield advantage until New England starts to win. Kansas City is nearly unstoppable at Arrowhead, but compared to Tom Brady at Gillette, it’s a breeze to play the Chiefs on the road in the playoffs.
Right now, the worry level needs to be high, but certainly not as drastic as it is. Everyone needs to know that at some point this season, the Steelers should turn into the team they were supposed to be.
Outside of Kansas City, the rest of the AFC’s top teams are in the same boat as Pittsburgh. That means the pressure to turn their play around isn’t high until something like the division or even a low playoff seed is on the line. Right now, neither are.
The panic button has not been punched, even after a 30-9 loss to the Jaguars. If this team was really in trouble the level of concern would be higher than some negative social media reactions.
Keep calm. This team is not under .500, is still a top the AFC North and compared to the rest of the high-end conference they’re right in the middle of the pack. Therefore, despite the belief that through five weeks the Steelers are no longer Super Bowl relevant, they’re still competing with everyone they should be.
Next: It wouldn't surprise anyone if the Steelers beat KC
Pittsburgh needs to improve, but it’s too early to judge their long-term season. They aren’t making it to U.S. Bank Stadium come February, but with plenty of season left and no real threat outside of Kansas City, it’s too soon to decide anything.