Mark Madden: Mythology of 'great defense' keeps Steelers' problems from being solved

The Pittsburgh Steelers rank last in the AFC North when it comes to quarterbacks.

But they might rank No. 1 in sports when it comes to mythology. (All the religions have them beat.)

On ESPN’s “Get Up” show Tuesday morning, the talking heads bleated about the Steelers having a “great defense.” Casually, factually, definitively and providing no proof.

The Steelers defense finished 20th in points allowed, 24th in yards allowed and 32nd (dead last) in run defense. It allowed 42 points in the playoff loss at Kansas City.

How can that defense possibly be classified as “great”?

“Mean” Joe Greene retired. So did Troy Polamalu. It was in all the papers.

The Steelers defense has a few great players. That’s the only connection to the word “great” on that side of the ball. It’s about the whole, not the parts.

The absences of defensive linemen Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu can be cited. But every team absorbs injuries.

Tuitt was a huge loss. He dealt with a knee injury and the tragic death of his brother. There’s no guarantee he will return.

The Steelers could lose most of their defensive backfield to free agency: Joe Haden, Terrell Edmunds and Ahkello Witherspoon are all unrestricted.

T.J. Watt was great. He won NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He tied the NFL’s single-season sack record.

But Watt missed two games, left three more early and was compromised by injury in at least two others.

For the defense to be great, Watt has to be 100% (or close to it) more often. Stars aren’t paid to win awards or set records. They’re paid to impact winning as much as possible.

So the Steelers defense wasn’t great. It was a lot closer to terrible. It won’t be great in 2022, either.

But Mike Greenberg and ex-Steeler Ryan Clark were calling it “great” on ESPN.

Repeat the same lie often enough, and it sounds like truth.

Repeat an expired truth with enough conviction, and it sounds current.

The Steelers are masters of mythology.

The same goes for the constant trumpeting of Mike Tomlin’s coaching brilliance. Any evidence of that has long since gone stale.

The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in five years. The Steelers have won just three playoff games in 11 years. They made it as far as the conference championship game just once in that span despite having the resources to do much better, including a Hall of Fame quarterback.

Tomlin has presided over a decline in culture and assembled a low-budget coaching staff that features no rivals in terms of influence or perceived knowledge.

But Tomlin is a great coach. People on TV keep saying it all the time, so it must be true.

Brian Flores is next to be canonized.

His hiring is about virtue-signaling as much as anything, to restore some luster to the diminished Rooney Rule.

Flores’ tangible impact as a senior defensive assistant will be negligible, not least because he answers to defensive coordinator Teryl Austin instead of vice versa, which is how it should be. (Tomlin bigfoots what’s done on defense, anyway.)

Such mythology pumps up the logo and encourages the citizens.

But it also keeps problems from being spotted and solved.

You see the Steelers how you want them to be, not as they are.