If you had told most Pittsburgh Steelers fans before the season that the team was far and away the top dog in the AFC North through six weeks, I doubt many would have believed you. With the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals employing two of the NFL's very best quarterbacks, plenty of analysts even had the Steelers pegged as the third-best team in the division.
Unfortunately for their division rivals, injuries and regression have hit them incredibly hard. The Bengals lost Joe Burrow to a potentially season-ending toe injury, the Ravens were cratering on defense before Lamar Jackson ended up on the shelf for the past few weeks, and the Browns are, well, the Browns.
Sitting at 4-1 entering Week 7, the Steelers have an opportunity to make it nearly impossible for anyone to catch them in the division. They will face Cincinnati on Thursday Night Football, with a victory sending the Bengals to a 2-5 record.
History isn't on Pittsburgh's side, however, and that's what makes it the perfect chance to send a message to the rest of the NFL.
Pittsburgh Steelers can open eyes around the NFL by avoiding a typical letdown game
The Steelers have become known for a lot of things in the Mike Tomlin era, but one that has often been a pet peeve for fans is their penchant for inexplicable losses to terrible opponents.
Last season, it was their loss to the lowly Browns in Week 12. In 2023, it was back-to-back losses late in the season to the Cardinals and Patriots, both of whom won just four games that season. All three of those losses massively changed their potential playoff seeding, forcing them to face the Bills and Ravens instead of lesser AFC playoff teams.
If Pittsburgh can avoid the same letdown against the Bengals this week, it will be a real sign of growth from a team that has lost games like this far too often. If they want to be taken seriously as contenders this season, not settling for a 10-7 or 9-8 season is non-negotiable.
Even if 10 wins may be enough to earn a home playoff game thanks to the ineptitude of their rivals, that would likely make them the four-seed tasked with facing the AFC's top non-division winner.
That opens up too many bad matchups in the first round, potentially leading to yet another immediate playoff exit. That's just not good enough for a roster built to win now, with a 41-year-old QB and multiple aging stars on defense.
The bottom line is this: if Pittsburgh is serious about ending its playoff losing streak, taking care of a Bengals team starting Joe Flacco at QB should not be too much to ask. If it ultimately is, then maybe things aren't as different as fans were hoping this season.