The Steelers haven't proven anything yet

Photo creds to Steel City Underground

By: Joe Smeltzer 

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been a good football team over the past four years.

Two AFC North titles, three straight ten-win seasons and three consecutive playoff appearances is a resume that stacks up well with most teams that aren't the New England Patriots. As consistent as the Steelers have been in the "Killer B" era, however, it sure feels like this city changes its opinion of the Steelers on a week-to-week basis. The past two games are a perfect example of that.

As they entered the "BBQ Capital of the World", the Steelers were coming off their worst performance at Heinz Field in quite some time. Although its quest to win the North hasn't been in doubt since last Christmas, Pittsburgh was just 3-2 and hadn't looked impressive in any of its five games. Coming into Arrowhead Stadium, I had a funny feeling that Week 6 was going to work out well.

It wasn't because the Steelers handled KC in both meetings last season, nor was it because I expected Ben Roethlisberger to discover the fountain of youth. The reason I picked the Steelers to bounce back against the Chiefs was that it would be so typical of what's been going on the past few years. So much has been said about Mike Tomlin's inability to take care of business against lesser competition. But what fans should keep in mind if they don't already is that, in recent years, the Steelers almost always bounce back from a tough loss. Since 2014, Pittsburgh has lost two or more games in a row just twice,  both streaks took place during stretches that included games without Big Ben at quarterback. So knowing that the Steelers almost always follow up a crushing loss with a win was a pretty good indicator that Sunday's game would please us, which it did. Hopefully, it didn't please us too much.

Coming into this season, we were hoping that the Steelers would continue their winning ways. At 4-2 and leading a division where they have no serious threat, the Steelers have done that thus far. We also hoped that the Steelers would break some of their habits, such as losing to bad teams and having distractions plague them.  Unfortunately, both of these issues are still relevant six weeks into the season, with new distractions coming in every week. Knowing that the Steelers are 4-2 when they could be 6-0 is frustrating. Even more aggravating is that, with the season nearing its halfway point, there is no reason that Pittsburgh shouldn't be the obvious favorite to win the AFC.

The other teams that were expected to contend in the conference aren't living up to expectations. New England is 4-2, and could easily be 2-4 with an atrocious defense. Oakland has lost four in a row, albeit with a banged up Derek Carr. The one team that to this point has been the shining star of the conference, Kansas City, just lost to these Steelers, 19-13, and got significantly outplayed for most of the game.

Yet, here the Steelers sit at a slightly above average 4-2. Things look pretty promising at the moment, as the Steelers are close to a lock to repeat as AFC North champs. But knowing the problems facing the other "top" teams in the conference, they could be in better shape.

The past two Sunday's have given fans strong reactions for opposite reasons. My advice to myself and all other Steelers fans is to hold off on those feelings until this team, for better or worse, does something other than what they've been doing the past few years. So far, they haven't. It's reasonable to be excited about the Steelers, as they are far and away the best team in their division. It is also fair to be pessimistic, as they are not the best team in the conference, which they should be. I think that we know this team well enough  to realize that, so far, not a lot is different from what we've grown used to seeing.

When the 2017 Steelers start to break the tendencies of the 2016, '15 and '14 teams, we can go crazy. Whether that'd be out of happiness or sorrow remains to be seen.