Best-Case Scenario for the Pittsburgh Steelers' 2012-13 Season

The most important thing to consider when fleshing out a best-case scenario for any NFL team is that it must be realistic. Rarely does a 16-0 regular season record seem like a realistic outcome for any team, even the best ones.

However, for the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that has missed the playoffs just four times since 2000, it's not unrealistic to say that the best case for their 2012-13 season is a Super Bowl victory.

Since 2005, the Steelers have made it to three Super Bowls, winning two. Though this upcoming season will take place after a period of uncharacteristic change, this change should ultimately prove beneficial—in all phases of the game.

The Steelers managed to cut veterans who weren't likely to contribute up to their pay grade this year. While this does leave somewhat of a leadership void in certain areas, there are still a great number of players who have been with the team for multiple seasons, know both the system and the culture and can easily step up into those vacated leadership positions.

The change at offensive coordinator from Bruce Arians to Todd Haley might take some getting used to for the players in the coming months of OTAs, minicamps and finally training camp, but it will ultimately benefit the bottom line.

Arians' play calling left too much on the field. How many stalled red zone drives did we see last year? He was conservative, predictable and rigid. Arians wasn't willing to speed up the game or employ more no-huddle and other techniques to keep quarterback Ben Roethlisberger adequately protected during a season rife with offensive line tumult.

With Haley, we'll see a more modern offense. Two-tight-end sets, more passes to running backs, more no-huddle and more of Roethlisberger passing from the pocket will ultimately provide the Steelers with greater offensive dynamism.

Haley will stretch the field more, using receivers Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders and Jerricho Cotchery to their full potential; give the Steelers an added dimension of speed and unpredictability by using Chris Rainey in a hybrid running back/wide receiver role; and, most importantly, play to the strengths of every player rather than trying to fit them into an unwieldy system.

Already, that sounds like not just a different Steelers offense, but also a better one. That side of the ball is rife with talent, talent that wasn't being properly maximized under Arians' system. Haley is a breath of fresh air and a sign of new life.

And how about defense? The long-vaunted Steelers defense was supposed to have taken a downward turn in 2011, with age finally beginning to take its toll. Instead, Pittsburgh ended the year giving up the fewest overall yards of any team, as well as the fewest points per game. They were eighth against the run and first against the pass, despite failing to post top-10 numbers in sacks and interceptions.

There are only two major changes to the Steelers defense this year: 37-year-old linebacker James Farrior was cut, and cornerback William Gay headed to the Arizona Cardinals. Other than that, the starting lineup is basically unchanged. As such, there's little reason to think Pittsburgh's defense won't be as strong—or stronger—than they were last season. That, in concert with the improved offense, guarantees the Steelers to be major Super Bowl contenders.

Speaking in terms of the AFC North alone, the Steelers are set up well for success.

The Baltimore Ravens are dealing with a great deal of offseason change of their own, but changes of the sort that could prove to be more damaging than the ones the Steelers have faced. The Cincinnati Bengals are a formidable opponent, but they're also still finding their proverbial sea-legs. And the Cleveland Browns, while improved, still won't be in position to threaten to overtake Pittsburgh and snag the divisional crown this year.

A divisional sweep puts the Steelers in a position with which they are all too familiar, one in which they are singularly more dangerous than most other teams: in the playoffs, potentially with a first-round bye.

Clearly, the Steelers won't be repeating the mistakes they made in last season's playoff loss to the Tim Tebow-led Denver Broncos. And as long as they aren't as bitten by the injury bug, as they were in the 2011-12 season, the Steelers should have all the necessary tools in place to make it to, and win, yet another Super Bowl.

Few teams in the NFL have the fortune of a recent past that's been as successful as the Steelers'. And as such, few teams have a realistic best-case scenario for the season that includes a Super Bowl win. But for a team like Pittsburgh, anything less would be a gross underestimation.

This is part two of a four-part examination of the most realistic best-case scenarios to befall each AFC North team. Part one (Cleveland Browns) can be found here.

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