After four straight wins, the Steelers once again look like the best team in the AFC North.
We definitely wrote the Pittsburgh Steelers off a little too early this year.
To be fair, we had reason to. The Steelers kicked off their 2018 season by tying the Cleveland Browns, a team that only had a single win in its previous two seasons. And the Steelers were being forced to compete without their superstar running back Le’Veon Bell, who decided to be a diva and hold out due to contract reasons.
In the midst of all the dysfunction going on around the team, the Steelers started the season with a tie, two losses, and just one win. It looked like their season was already cooked.
But the Steelers still have Ben Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback who has been one of the league’s elite. They still have arguably the best receiver in football in Antonio Brown, and they still have running back James Conner, who has made Pittsburgh fans forget about Bell, at least a little bit.
And they still have a competent coach in Mike Tomlin. He might not be on the same level as Bill Belichick or someone like that, but he has a Super Bowl ring for a reason.
The Steelers finally started clicking, and they’ve now won four straight games, most recently with an impressive 23-16 win over their AFC North rival, the Baltimore Ravens. Big Ben threw for almost 300 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Conner ran for over 100 yards.
The Steelers looked very uneasy for a while, but now they have hit their stride and look to be cruising right to the playoffs. At the moment, they have a firm grasp on the AFC North and it doesn’t look like they are going to slow down any time soon.
They are far from a lock to win the division though. They still have some tough games coming up, including one against the Carolina Panthers next week, and games against the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints further down the road.
But for the time being, the Steelers are playing good football again and are making us eat our words about writing them off after just one or two games this year.