Mark Madden's Hot Take: Steelers are walking tightrope that usually leads to heartbreak

The American Football Conference stinks. The Tennessee Titans have seven wins, the Baltimore Ravens have six and nine teams have five (including the Pittsburgh Steelers).

The AFC might be deep, but so is an outhouse’s reservoir.

This has led to optimism among Steelers fans, especially with win No. 6 pending against Detroit: “If nobody is any good, maybe the Steelers are!”

That could be true. Why not the Steelers?

The Steelers’ problem: No win ever will be comfortable. Their biggest victory is by eight points over the Denver Broncos, and that had to be preserved by an end-zone interception on the last play. Their last three wins have been by a total of 10 points.

Their offense is blah. It won’t ever run away from teams. Their defense isn’t good enough to put a result on ice, as evidenced by foe after foe staging a second-half comeback.

Walking that kind of tightrope inevitably leads to heartache. A soul-crushing loss, or several.

But that hasn’t happened so far. Maybe it won’t.

Speaking of soul-crushing losses, Buffalo lost to Jacksonville. Baltimore lost to Miami. The Steelers haven’t sunk to those depths.

Indeed, why not the Steelers?

Because, after beating Detroit, the Steelers won’t be favored in another game this season. That’s why not.

But if you want optimism, I’m chock-full as usual. So, here’s a scenario:

The Steelers play at the Los Angeles Chargers and at Cincinnati in the two weeks following their defeat of Detroit. Those are difficult games, but winnable.

If the Steelers get no worse than a split in those games and get to 7-4, they make the playoffs. They might stumble home, as is their recent tradition. But they make it.

The Detroit and Los Angeles Chargers games also provide a window for the Steelers’ subpar running game to get traction. The Chargers have the worst run defense in the league, and Detroit ranks fourth from bottom.

The Steelers’ run game ranks fifth-worst with a measly 88.4 yards per game.

But the Steelers have to run the ball anyway.

The Steelers led the NFL in passing attempts in 2020 and 2018 (Ben Roethlisberger was hurt in ’19), and all it got them was a one-way ticket to Palookaville.