Mark Madden: You think the Steelers are close, but close to what?

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ win on Franco Day was dramatic, inspirational and happy. It was cool more than cold. That’s saying something given game-night temperatures.

Despite the frigidity, it might have been better in person than on television. The crowd at Acrisure Stadium was small but rabid. It deserved that victory.

But here’s the problem: The Steelers are 7-8, and it doesn’t seem that bad.

But they’re not going to make the playoffs, they blew a prime draft pick with their late-season rally, and coach Mike Tomlin’s failure gets to keep hiding in plain sight. One of TV’s talking heads said this year might be one of Tomlin’s best coaching jobs.

It’s not.

The Steelers have one win against a team with a winning record, that being a Week 1 gift when Cincinnati’s long snapper got hurt. They have six wins vs. losing teams, five of those being by a margin inside one score. They started slowly at 1-4, with three of those losses against teams with losing records.

Too many will say the Steelers are close, but close to what? To being a playoff team? To getting a playoff win? To being a Super Bowl contender?

They’re closest to being sub-.500 next season. There are lots of holes to fill.

Kenny Pickett’s improvement is equally fictional.

The rookie quarterback’s “moxie” has beaten some rotten teams, and it did Saturday. But it hasn’t beaten good teams.

Pickett had a great game-winning drive vs. Las Vegas. (There’s that “moxie.”) But he was otherwise subpar.

Pickett was 18 of 29 for 168 yards, no touchdowns and one interception before that drive. He threw lots of bad passes. He isn’t good at playing fast.

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The Steelers defense got three picks, but the offense couldn’t convert any into points. The running game wasn’t exactly Franco-esque.

But one drive was all it took. George Pickens’ touchdown was caught in the middle of the end zone. It seems revolutionary that he wasn’t pinned to the sideline like usual.

It’s true that last year Ben Roethlisberger had nothing going for him besides fourth-quarter drives: Six that won games and another in overtime. But Roethlisberger was 39 and barely hanging on. Pickett is 24. He should display more than “moxie.”

The Steelers offense has improved to the point where Tomlin will likely retain Matt Canada as offensive coordinator next season.

Despite negative appraisal — ex-NFL receiver Steve Smith called Canada’s play-calling “Saturdayish,” equating it to college football — keeping Canada might be the correct move. Would it be wise for a second-year quarterback to have to learn a whole different playbook and all-new terminology?

Probably not. Tomlin won’t want to ditch a convenient scapegoat, either.

The Steelers didn’t win a playoff game in their previous five seasons. They have a 4% chance of making the postseason this year.

Yet you’re excited. The Steelers are excited.

Is the standard still the standard? What is the standard?

Locals are ignoring such skepticism to direct their anger toward the NFL Network for cutting away from the halftime ceremony that honored Franco Harris. Commercials got shown. Steelers Nation wet its pants as one.

But nothing short of war or a world leader’s death will pre-empt commercials. The entire halftime ceremony is readily available to see online, including the tribute video that got dumped.

What happened isn’t a big deal. Unless you want to be mad.

You should be mad about 7-8. But you’re not.