Perhaps we should have seen this slow start coming from the Steelers. After all, the Steelers have entered every new season for the better part of the past decade with a Green Day kind of feeling.
You know, "Wake me up when September ends."
The Steelers' 1-2-1 start in the month of September is nothing new for the team. After all, in the past 10 seasons, they are 16-16-1 in games to open the season in that month. And that includes a 3-0 record in 2010, their only unblemished record in the opening month in the past decade.
That's the bad news. The good? They have typically recovered and played better moving on.
A quick look at the calendar now shows that it's now October as the Steelers prepare to host the Falcons Sunday at Heinz Field.
Reasons for the slow starts can certainly be discussed and many have merit. It could be Mike Tomlin not playing his starters much, if at all, in the preseason, or the Steelers being a team that doesn't change a lot from year to year and are thus more predictable than some other teams.
But perhaps the No. 1 reason is the Ben Roethlisberger-Antonio Brown connection that has been the team's bread and butter since 2011, has performed more like stale toast to this point.
Roethlisberger is off to his best month throwing the ball in terms of yardage. He leads the NFL with 1,414 yards. But overall, the offense has produced in fits and spurts.
The offense hasn't consistently produced. Sure, it misses running back Le'Veon Bell. But the Steelers also have struggled to consistently involve Brown.
"We’ve seen so many things in the last nine years, it’s hard to show anything different," Roethlisberger said. "I think I just have to play better to help him get his numbers, which would help get us wins."
Roethlisberger shouldered the blame for the loss to the Ravens for a game in which he completed 27 of 47 passes for 274 yards, one touchdown and one interception. It wasn't his worst game, but it certainly wasn't his best, especially in the second half, when the offense produced just 47 total yards.
Brown had just one catch for five yards in that second half on five targets.
It's been a consistent theme for Brown this season, who last Friday noted, "I can't throw the ball to myself."
Some would see that as a shot at Roethlisberger. But, in fact, Brown was more lamenting the fact he and Roethlisberger just haven't looked in sync.
Brown's overall numbers -- 29 receptions for 272 yards and three touchdowns -- would look great for many receivers. And they still have Brown on pace for 116 receptions for 1,088 yards and 12 scores. But that's come on 53 targets.
That means Roethlisberger is still completing just 54.7 percent of his passes to his top receiver. That's the lowest mark of Brown's career. According to Pro Football Focus, just 57.7 percent of Brown's targets have been catchable, the lowest rate for all wide receivers with 25 or more targets on the season. For his career entering this season, 72.3 percent of Brown's targets were catchable.
The Steelers have had five 100-yard receiving games thus far, adding to the league's total of 71 this season. There were 140 all of last season. But Brown, who had eight 100-yard games last season and a team-record 37 in his career, has yet to join that club.
Roethlisberger said after the loss to the Ravens he wasn't on the same page as anyone in that game, but he completed all six of his pass attempts to tight ends Vance McDonald and Jesse James, and was seven-for-seven to slot receiver Ryan Switzer.
He was 11 of 26, however, when throwing to Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington.
Because the Steelers have gotten behind early, getting outscored 42-6 in the first quarter of their games this season, they have had to throw early more often than they'd like. That has allowed opposing safeties to back off and has taken deep passing plays out of the equation.
Roethlisberger ranks fourth in the NFL with 24 pass attempts of at least 20 or more yards downfield. But he has completed just five of those, meaning the Steelers have had to drive the length of the field to score.
Though they didn't hook up often or consistently last season, the absent threat of Martavis Bryant lining up opposite Brown seems to be having an effect on his numbers. Bryant was traded in the offseason to Oakland for a third-round pick, and rookie Washington, selected in the second round of the draft to help ease that loss, has just five catches for 49 yards and a score.
Despite that, Roethlisberger said he hasn't noticed safeties playing any differently than in the past, particularly on Brown's side of the field.
"I mean he always gets that safety look lean-in. It’s just a matter of me getting them the ball," Roethlisberger said.
"I don’t know that they are particularly trying to take away the sideline or anything. I haven’t noticed anything like I that. I just think it’s like they always do, put two guys on A.B., one guy is holding him, and one guy is watching."
Whatever the solution might be, the Steelers had better find it and quickly. They can't afford to fall too far behind in an AFC North that has seen the Bengals and Ravens both get off to 3-1 starts.
Getting the Roethlisberger-to-Brown connection working more efficiently would go a long way toward making that happen.
"I’ve seen that tandem a lot over the years," Tomlin said. "They’ll smooth it out, they will find the rhythm."