Was the bye week enough to fix the Steelers problems?

The Pittsburgh Steelers return from their bye week on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

In the NFL, many teams use their bye week as a chance to get heathy and address any issues, before resuming the weekly action in the second half of their season. The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off their Week 7 bye, and many fans are hoping to see a better team than the one that took the field the first six weeks.

The Steelers are currently 3-3 and sit dead last in the AFC North. Their Week 3, 24-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals is the only divisional game they have played, so they will have plenty of opportunity to make up ground in the division. In order to do so, they will have to address a number of issues that plagued them in the first six games.

Did the bye week help the Steelers improve?

While the bye week can usually be beneficial for teams, it’s unlikely that the extra time off directly helped Pittsburgh. Surely it gave them time to rest their bodies and minds as they didn’t have to go through the stresses of a NFL game week, but the Steelers biggest problems are ones that can’t be fixed by time alone.

One of the most obvious issues is one that has been present for a couple of seasons now, the offensive line. In 2020, the Steelers rushed for a league worst 3.6 yards a carry and a league low 1,351 yards. They offense also ran a lot of quick pass game to mask any pass blocking struggles.

Since then, center Maurkice Pouncey has retired, center Kendrick Green was drafted and guard Trai Turner was signed. Even with the new acquisitions, the Pittsburgh offensive line is still struggling this season, as the team averages 3.7 yards a carry with 487 rushing yards in six games.

An off week from NFL action isn’t going to magically make this offensive line play better, but they do get Zach Banner back off the injured list and he will have an opportunity to compete for playing time. Other than that, the offensive line should be much of the same with similar struggles. The one hope is that they can build of the two game win streak, prior to the bye week, where they ran for over 100 yards each.

The offensive line and the man they’re protecting, Ben Roethlisberger, will be the biggest factors for the team’s success moving forward.

Will Ben Roethlisberger be better for the Steelers?

Roethlisberger‘s decline has been no secret, and his performance is Pittsburgh’s other biggest issue. While time off will definitely aid the 39-year-old quarterback, who was nursing minor injuries, the truth is he just isn’t the quarterback he once was.

On the season, Roethlisberger has thrown 1,515 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 65.1% of his passes. His lack of mobility and declining arm strength has proven to be a problem for the Steelers, but they don’t have many places to turn.

While many have called for Roethlisberger to be benched, there hasn’t been a better option on the roster, and that didn’t change during the bye week.

So ultimately, the challenges that Pittsburgh faced before their bye week, still await them. The fortunate part is that they start their second half with .500 record at 3-3. If they want to stack good games together and make a run at the playoffs, they are going to have to look within and find a way to play better.