State of Steelers at halfway mark of 2021 NFL season
By Eric Hassel
The Steelers have a winning record at the halfway mark of the 2021 season but have some ‘kinks’ in the armor
While no team is perfect, the Steelers strive for perfection. I think it’s fair to say that every team in the NFL strives for perfection; however, less than half of the teams in the league make it to the playoffs and only two teams get the opportunity to compete for a chance to become Super Bowl Champions.
Will the Steelers become one of those aforementioned teams? Well, there’s still a lot of football left to be played but based on our current record of five wins and three losses, if the season were to end today, the Steelers would be the sixth seed, according to ESPN.
That’s not quite where we want to be, but that is the position in which we find ourselves. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the state of affairs on offense.
The Steelers offense is struggling with consistency
I realize that we are not quite at the halfway point of the season, considering that this year there is a 17th game on the schedule, so let’s just treat that game as a ‘play in’ game. So at the agreed-upon halfway point, according to ESPN, the offense is ranked 25th in total yards per game, 17th in passing, and 28th in rushing.
I don’t know about you but those statistics do not inspire confidence that the offense will be able to, all of a sudden, ‘flip the switch’ to become an offensive juggernaut. I think it’s fair to say the offense has been consistently inconsistent through the first eight games of the season.
What’s really telling to me is this: The Steelers offense is averaging just a hair over 20 points per game, while the team at the top of the list is averaging 32 points per game. If we were to play that team, which happens to be an NFC team, in the Super Bowl, who do you think wins that contest?
Look, I realize that not every game is going to play out the way it was drawn up in practice, but we simply need to generate more offense if we want to be playing meaningful football in January. Let’s take a look at where we stand on defense.