Biggest Obstacles Steelers Face in Pursuit of Super Bowl Title This Season
As Week 12 of the 2017 NFL season begins, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in great position to earn themselves a playoff berth. At 8-2, they are the No. 1 seed in a weak AFC field, which should assure them a trip to the postseason.
However, that doesn't mean the Steelers will be heavy favorites to reach or win the Super Bowl. Here are six obstacles standing in Pittsburgh's way to picking up the franchise's seventh Lombardi Trophy.
Injuries
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The Steelers have been relatively unscathed as far as injuries are concerned this year. Only one player, rookie linebacker Keion Adams, is on injured reserve, with fellow rookie Cameron Sutton activated from the IR list earlier ahead of Week 12. Right tackle Marcus Gilbert missed time with a hamstring injury and now is serving a four-game suspension. But his replacement, Chris Hubbard, has performed well in his stead.
Though players like safety Mike Mitchell and cornerback Joe Haden have missed time (with Haden out indefinitely with a broken leg) and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is dealing with a hamstring ailment, the Steelers have faced far fewer significant injuries than many of the other teams around the league.
That's not an insignificant reason why Pittsburgh has just two losses on the season. But just one injury to one key player, such as receiver Antonio Brown, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger or even inside linebacker Ryan Shazier, could drastically affect the Steelers' ability to put forth a deep playoff run that leads them to the Super Bowl.
Health has been a strength this year. And the Steelers need it to stay that way in order to remain Super Bowl favorites.
Red-Zone Issues
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Though the Steelers put up 40 points in their Week 11 win over the Tennessee Titans—their first time reaching (and in this case, surpassing) the 30-point mark on the season—it did not provide enough proof that they have found the cure for what has been ailing them all year in the red zone. And those red-zone weaknesses could haunt them once the playoffs begin.
In that game, Pittsburgh had seven scoring opportunities but only earned touchdowns on three of them. The team's red-zone touchdown scoring percentage is the second-worst in the league, at 42.50 percent (and just 30 percent at home versus 55.55 percent on the road)—down from 54.24 percent in 2016.
Even if the Steelers earn themselves a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the postseason, that doesn't necessarily mean they will make the most of the scales tipping in their favor.
Scoring is often at a greater premium in the postseason than it is during the regular season. The game-planning is different, for one, but the quality of the opponent is also guaranteed to be higher. Defense has often been the hallmark of Super Bowl-contesting teams in recent years, so Pittsburgh's inefficient offense could be slowed by the time January football begins. The Steelers need to get more touchdowns out of their scoring opportunities in order to become Super Bowl champions.
Tackling Problems
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The Steelers defense is a top-10 unit in nearly every important statistical category, including yards and points allowed and turnovers forced and has 34 sacks on the season through 10 games played. But the defense also has a glaring weakness that could prove fatal to the team's chances of winning the Super Bowl this year: tackling.
Despite a dominant defensive performance against the Titans in terms of both turnovers forced and pressure placed on Tennessee quarterback Marcus Mariota, the Steelers again had double-digit missed tackles on defense. Steelers Depot's Josh Carney tallied 16 in the game, bringing the team's total to 133 on the season (an average of 13.3 per game). All but seven belonged to the defense.
While these missed tackles aren't as big of an issue when the defense otherwise performs as well as it did in Week 11, it also cannot be expected that such a performance will be standard moving forward, especially in the postseason. Just one missed tackle could be the difference between Pittsburgh's defense getting a third-down stop or giving up a 45-yard touchdown run—and thus the difference between winning a game and losing it.
Therefore, this high volume of missed tackles must be corrected quickly or else it has a strong chance of being a major issue for the team in the playoffs.
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Prime-Time Stretch
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The Steelers have already played in two prime-time games this season, with the first coming in Week 8 against the Detroit Lions and the most recent on Nov. 16 against the Tennessee Titans. And they have three more to go—all in a row—beginning Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers. That continues in Week 13 against the Cincinnati Bengals and is capped off in Week 14 against the Baltimore Ravens.
The Steelers have prided themselves on their prime-time performances, particularly those played at home (which the Packers and Ravens games both are). Including the Titans game, the Steelers are 23-7 when at home in prime time and 17-5 at home for prime-time games with Mike Tomlin as head coach. This has led to Tomlin saying "the stars come out when the lights are on" as a way to explain his team's dominance during nighttime games.
But it's still a lot of national scrutiny to undergo, especially when two of the three remaining prime-time contests are against AFC North rivals and the Steelers are halfway to a sweep in the division. Though it affords more time for preparation, it could also allow for an overthinking of the game plan.
And while history says Pittsburgh should have control in at least two of the contests, history does not necessarily dictate what will happen in the future. Resting on their at-home, prime-time laurels and taking their opponents lightly could swing the AFC's momentum away from their favor, potentially taking away home-field advantage in the postseason and giving them a steeper uphill climb to the Super Bowl.
The New England Patriots
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Though the Steelers' oldest rivals can be found within the AFC North, their biggest and most recent foes are in the AFC East: The New England Patriots.
In 2016, the Steelers and Patriots met twice—first in the regular season, at Heinz Field in Week 7, and then in the AFC Championship Game. Both times, Pittsburgh fell. The team spent much of the offseason revamping certain offensive and defensive schemes to help give them a greater advantage over the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick-led Patriots team that has long given them issues.
The Steelers have one guaranteed meeting with New England, in Week 15, and it's an important one. New England and Pittsburgh are the only eight-win teams in the AFC, so the outcome of December's game between the two will determine both teams' postseason seedings and who gets both home-field advantage and a first-round bye.
And the two could meet again in the playoffs. Last year, that game was played at Gillette Stadium and resulted in a 36-17 Patriots win. However, it hasn't mattered much where the Pittsburgh and New England have clashed in the past; the Patriots still have the win-loss advantage. There is no greater obstacle in the the Steelers' Super Bowl path than the defending champions, and it's possible they will have to defeat them twice before February in order to achieve their goal.
Le'Veon Bell Slows Down
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Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell leads the league in rushing yards, with 886. But he also leads the league in carries, with 232. Add in his 49 receptions (for 308 yards), and he's touched the football 281 times this season, an average of 28.1 touches per game. Should this heavy usage continue, Bell is on pace for 450 touches in the regular season, far more than he's had previously in his career. While this is a cause for celebration, it is also cause for concern.
It's celebratory because it's clear the Steelers want their offense to run through Bell as much as possible this year, and he's been answering the call. He's also managed to stay healthy despite his heavy usage. However, it is also a concern because should anything happen to Bell, either regarding his health or regarding defenses finding ways to properly shut him down, Pittsburgh's offense could be doomed.
Bell has accounted for the vast majority of the Steelers' combined 288 rushing attempts and 1,024 rushing yards and all five of the team's rushing scores. His backup, James Conner, has only had 24 carries all season, netting him 113 yards and no touchdowns. While Bell's command of the starting job has kept Pittsburgh from having to unleash Conner in any notable way, it's also clear that if something happened to Bell that Conner would not have the same kind of impact on the offense.
Bell also has an injury history to keep in mind; he injured his ACL in 2014 and tore his MCL in 2015 and was hindered by a groin injury late in the 2016 season that limited his contributions against the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. The Steelers need to balance their reliance on Bell (and their giddiness at how well he is playing) with protecting him to try to prevent another injury that could derail the team's playoff hopes.
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