Mark Madden: Steelers defense is good until it has to be

So, do you still think the Pittsburgh Steelers are a legit Super Bowl contender?

The AFC is generally weak. Even the conference’s good teams don’t look all that great.

But there’s a lot to dislike about the Steelers despite their 8-3 record. Much of that was on display in Thursday night’s galling 24-19 loss at Cleveland.

Blame the snow. But it snowed on both teams.

Blame the refs, like several of the local stooge media: “Holding! That’s holding! They won’t call holding!” Steelers Twitter needed a hanky, not a Terrible Towel.

Blame Mike Tomlin. Tomlin mangled a plethora of decisions: bad clock management, haphazard use of Justin Fields, accepting a fourth-quarter penalty he shouldn’t have that gave Cleveland an extra third down in exchange for a measly 4 yards.

Blame arrogance. After the game, George Pickens said, “I don’t really think the Cleveland Browns are a good team at all.” OK, George, so where does that leave the Steelers? Oh, yeah, right … it snowed.

Blame the offense, which didn’t score a touchdown in seven quarters till Jaylen Warren hit paydirt in Thursday’s final period. The offense is averaging 2.1 touchdowns. That’s 23rd in the NFL, tied with Jacksonville (gag) and just below the New York Jets (double gag).

Blame the defense, which is supposed to be elite.

Drop anchor on that last one, because the Steelers are absolutely fraudulent on that side of the ball. Not terrible, but grotesquely overrated.

Thursday’s defensive failure was personified by T. J. Watt.

This week saw Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, last year’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year, chastise Watt for complaining about not getting that award. (Watt probably should have.)

Garrett put an exclamation point on his remarks by badly outplaying Watt. Garrett had three sacks, three tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Watt had one tackle for loss and was generally MIA.

Garrett twisted the knife after: “I wanted to make it known that I’m ‘the guy’ — the No. 1 edge defender. That was a statement I was intending to make, and I think I made it.” You know Watt is fuming.

Watt has had more quiet games than noisy games this season. At 30, it’s fair to wonder if he’s near the end of his prime. He’s the betting favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year, but that’s based on rep.

Minkah Fitzpatrick is invisible.

Fitzpatrick forced a fumble at Cleveland, the first time he was involved in a turnover in 23 games. A $21.365 million cap hit doesn’t buy what it used to.

We’re told Fitzpatrick holds the defense together by playing center field, enabling others to prosper. That would be more believable if ballcarriers didn’t race by him as often as they do. For a price tag that big, Fitzpatrick should be making plays. That’s how he got his big ticket.

If not for young players like Nick Herbig and Peyton Wilson stepping up, the defense would be considerably worse. They’re often contributing more than those with superior star power.

Related

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• After outshining Steelers' T.J. Watt, Browns' Myles Garrett proclaims himself 'No. 1 edge defender' in NFL

The Steelers defense doesn’t stink.

It just doesn’t come through like its bloated, league-high $137.6-million salary-cap hit dictates.

Witness Cleveland’s winning drive in the fourth quarter: 12 plays, 45 yards. Sure, the Browns got a short field. But they’re not good, you’re allegedly elite and that’s Jameis Winston at quarterback.

Baltimore marched 69 yards on nine plays during its last possession this past Sunday, scoring a touchdown and getting a chance to tie the score on a 2-point conversion. (The Ravens failed. Who blew up that conversion try? Herbig. Not Watt. Not Fitzpatrick.)

The game before, Washington had long touchdown drives on either side of halftime: 94 yards on 15 plays and 71 yards on five plays.

The defense is good unless it has to be.

The Steelers need to win the AFC North to avoid the likelihood of playing on the road against a top-class quarterback in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The Steelers needed to beat Cleveland.

ESPN’s Bart Scott called it in September: “They’ll find a way to get in the wild card, and they’ll lose in the first round.” Can’t wait.