Mark Madden: Steelers in control of AFC North, but their flaws could stunt playoff success

The Steelers are 8-2 after beating Baltimore, 18-16, at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday.

The overreaction is a heady brew.

One nitwit on Twitter said the Steelers would “steamroll” Buffalo in a playoff game because, among other reasons, Russell Wilson gives the Steelers the edge at quarterback over Josh Allen, a mere “game manager and not a very good one.”

This stated mere hours after the Bills ended Kansas City’s undefeated season in a game punctuated by Allen’s spectacular 26-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

But delusion is part of the fun, especially if it turns out to be true.

In 2020, 11-0 lied.

Is 8-2 any more honest?

The real truth: I don’t know how to feel about these Steelers. What their level is, or what their ceiling is.

I’m not sure what that victory over the Ravens reveals, either.

The Steelers are Baltimore’s bogey team, having won eight of nine this decade vs. the Ravens despite having a team stuck in the mushy middle. Quarterback Lamar Jackson goes to pieces when he sees black and gold. The Ravens often shoot themselves in the foot, like Sunday when they took 12 penalties.

A win is a win, but the Steelers played the NFL’s worst pass defense and couldn’t score a touchdown.

That’s the second time this season the Steelers have won without scoring a touchdown. The NFL isn’t that kind of league, except once in a while when the Steelers play.

There were some things to like:

• The defense contained Jackson and running back Derrick Henry, two legit MVP candidates. (Why did Henry only get 13 carries?)

• The defense made two amazing plays, namely Peyton Wilson’s interception for the ages and Patrick Queen’s strip and fumble recovery. (Queen is coming on strong.)

• Chris Boswell was 6 for 6 on field goals for the second time this season. He’s lifted the crown of football’s best kicker from Baltimore’s Justin Tucker, who effectively lost the game by missing twice.

There were some things to not like:

• The offensive line struggled. Right tackle Broderick Jones did worse than that. (I took your advice, Coach T, and kept writing.)

• Justin Fields idiotically sliding short of the sticks on the game’s last possession. (By the way, if Fields has a package of plays that call for him to enter the game in certain situations, he should do so every time those situations occur. Not sporadically.)

• Besides George Pickens, the wideouts had one catch for minus-1 yard. Mike Williams got no targets. What was the point of getting Williams? He surely knows enough of the playbook. He’s not memorizing “The Brothers Karamazov.” He’s dealt with X’s and O’s his whole life.

• Sometimes the defense is elite. Sometimes it allows a big drive at a bad time. Like Baltimore’s nine-play, 69-yard march on the Ravens’ last possession. That gave the Ravens a shot at a game-tying two-point conversion.

• Wilson did nothing to logically convince anyone that he shouldn’t be QB1. Fields would not have won that game. But Wilson’s numbers were subpar. He made a terrible decision in throwing an end zone interception. He was sacked four times and pressured into throwing away numerous balls. The Steelers were 4 of 16 on third down, 0 of 4 in the red zone.

So maybe Wilson isn’t better than Allen.

The punter is good. At least we don’t complain about that anymore.

The Steelers are in firm control of the AFC North and figure to strengthen that by winning at Cleveland on Thursday night.

But it all looks flawed and feels shaky. (Not as bad as 11-0 did in 2020.)

This isn’t about merely making the playoffs. The minimal acceptable achievement is winning a playoff game.

Finishing first in the division and getting a home game against a non-elite quarterback in the wild-card round makes that likely. (Unless it’s a rematch with Jackson. That would be even easier.)

But can the Steelers beat Buffalo or Kansas City in a playoff game, probably on the road, by slowing the game down to a crawl whether it’s intentionally or otherwise? Can they eliminate the Bills or Chiefs without scoring a touchdown?

It’s highly unlikely.

The Steelers are 8-2.

But are they capable of improving to a level that can win multiple playoff games and beat teams like the Bills and Chiefs? Are they really a legit contender to go to the Super Bowl?

Winning a playoff game, as noted, is the minimum acceptable achievement.

But if that’s the ceiling, it’s just exchanging one manufactured goal for a slightly better one.