Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — A lot can happen in two weeks. The Pittsburgh Steelers left Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 30, with the echoes of the boos of their fanbase and the calls for the firing of head coach Mike Tomlin still echoing through the concourses.
Monday night, two weeks and one day later, the Steelers dominated the Miami Dolphins, putting themselves into a commanding position in the AFC North — and looking like a team that could win games in January.
Of course, the Steelers didid’t need this two-game stretch to learn that less. The members of the squad’s 2024 team can recall the halcyon days of that season, which at one point saw the Steelers with a 10-3 record, only to fall for 10-7.
The Steelers stumbled into the postseason last year and then got blasted once they got there, falling apart in front of a beating at the hands of their fiercest rivals, the Baltimore Ravens.
Obviously, the ideal situation is for a team to get to its best football early, power through the regular season, clinch their playoff situation early, rest for a few games, and then hit the playoffs in full stride. A quick glance around the NFL doesn’t show very many teams taking that optimal path. The Los Angeles Rams seem to be on their ways. Maybe the New England Patriots will join them.
For most of the rest of the team, there’s going to be some struggle involved at some point. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s lot better to have that struggle behind you as the days get shorter and the games get tighter.
It’s a bit premature to say the Steelers have their struggles behind them at this point, but they’ve come an awful long way in two weeks. They also had to overcome an awful lot of outside noise and potential strife to get to this point.
“I just think it’s a credit to the leadership from the top down,” linebacker Payton Wilson said. “You’ve got to keep the outside noise, outside noise. The fans had a right. The outside noise was obviously legit with the way we were playing in those games. It’s just cool to see some of the leaders that stepped up from the top down, keep us together and let everyone know we have the pieces and we have the tools to put it together.”
A big part of the frustration of the fanbase was not only a 4-1 start that turned into a 6-6 malaise by midseason, but that the Steelers appeared on paper to be a team that was capable of much more than that — and that’s what Wilson is talking about when he said the Steelers have the pieces.
On Monday against Miami, they finished the first half with a 7-3 lead. It was the eighth time they led at the half this season, but the Steelers were just 3-4 in the previous seven games. They blew leads in the second...
