BALTIMORE -- All that angst people had when the Steelers got out of the gate 1-2-1 after their 26-14 loss to the Ravens Sept. 30 is out the window. They haven't lost since.
That's why there was no panic in the locker room when all of that went down and the vultures were circling. As Ramon Foster said at the time, "I've seen this team go win six, seven, eight games in a row."
Well, they have now rattled off four consecutive wins following their 23-16 win over the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium Sunday and look like a much different team than the one that was taking the field earlier in the season.
What's been the key to all of this?
Is it the running of James Conner, who recorded his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game Sunday?
Or is it a defense that gave up 268 yards and has now given up an average of just 276 total yards per game during that win streak?
Those are two big positive developments, to be sure. But to me, it's been Ben Roethlisberger finding his groove. Roethlisberger was off earlier in the season. Not only was he not throwing the ball all that well, he wasn't seeing the field well, either.
He was forcing the ball -- mostly to Antonio Brown -- because he didn't trust some of the other guys out there. There's still some trust being developed. Rookie James Washington still has a way to go. But it's getting closer.
And the better Roethlisberger plays, the more this team starts to take on the look of a contender in the AFC.
• Seriously, who are the AFC contenders right now?
The Chiefs (8-1) still appear to be the class of the conference, even though the Patriots (7-2) beat the Packers on Sunday night. The Chargers (6-2) are still right there, as well, along with the Steelers.
Does anyone really think the Texans (6-3), Bengals (5-3) or Dolphins (5-4) are serious contenders?
Those are the only other teams over .500, but no.
This is a four-team race. And yet, all four have warts. Kansas City can't defend. New England is using a wide receiver at running back and Rob Gronkowski looks like he's 70 years old -- when he actually plays. And Los Angeles, as usual, has major issues in the kicking game, as well as a tendency to go through stretches of finding a way to lose.
The Steelers might be the most complete team of the bunch right now. But, as we've seen, things can quickly change.
• What in the world were the Steelers trying to accomplish at the end of the first half?
To review, they got the ball back with 49 seconds at their own 15 and Roethlisberger tossed a 1-yard pass to Vance McDonald, who was tackled to the ground -- partially by his facemask -- then had the ball pulled away from him after he rolled over.
The officials, in what might have been the most ridiculous call I've seen this season, not only didn't call the facemask, but they also ruled it was an interception and a touchdown by the Ravens -- even though the ball had clearly hit the turf after being pulled out of McDonald's arms.
Once that foolishness was overturned, the Steelers should have realized they weren't going to have anything positive occur at that point and just ran the ball twice and punted again -- if necessary.
Instead, they threw another pass, this one incomplete to Conner before he bailed them out with a 9-yard run on third down.
Yet they still then tried to pass again on the next play with just 19 seconds remaining from their own 25.
There are about eight different things that can happen in that kind of scenario. And seven of them are bad.
• All of that said, the play calling on both sides of the ball was very good in this game -- after Baltimore had clearly gotten the better of that end of things the first time around. To post nearly 400 yards of offense against the Ravens in their own building was a dominant effort. And defensively, the Steelers once again slammed the door on the running game and took John Brown completely out of the equation.
For all of the John Harbaugh-owns-Mike-Tomlin talk we hear about, Tomlin leads Harbaugh in the series, 13-12.
That's what makes this rivalry such a good one. It's such an even split.
• Good for Josh Dobbs. And good for Randy Fichtner for having the guts to allow a play call like that from his own end zone with his backup quarterback.
Dobbs has gotten plenty of first-team snaps this season because Roethlisberger has taken Wednesdays off from practice. That paid dividends in this situation. Had the Steelers run the ball on second-and-20 from their own 5, Conner likely wouldn't have gotten much. Everyone in the building and watching at home expected a running play. Instead, Fichtner had his young QB attack, knowing Roethlisberger would return on the next play.
That was showing a lot of trust in Dobbs.
• If there's an offensive line playing better than the Steelers' group right now, it would take a lot of convincing for me to believe it.
Roethlisberger was sacked one time in this game on 50 or so dropbacks -- and that came when he purposely took a sack to keep the clock running at the end of the game.
Terrell Suggs had two tackles and one QB hit thanks to another strong game from Alejandro Villanueva.
• You're starting to see why the Steelers paid Stephon Tuitt all that money before the 2017 regular season began. He now has a sack in three consecutive games and has been solid against the run all season.
With Tuitt and Cameron Heyward in the middle of their defensive front, the Steelers have two very disruptive defensive linemen. Javon Hargrave continues to play well, as well. It's a really good three-man line.
The Steelers are controlling the trenches on both sides of the ball.
• The Steelers had nine possessions in this game and went three-and-out just once. They had drives of 42, 61, 75, 75 and 89 yards in the game against the top-rated defense in the league.
If they can do that against the Ravens in Baltimore, they can do it against anyone.
• The best part of this season is that of the three other AFC contenders, the Steelers will have played all three.
They did lose to Kansas City at home back in Week 2, but they have games remaining against both New England and the Chargers. And both will be played at Heinz Field.
It says here the Steelers will win both. Yes, I'm predicting a win over the Patriots.
• Why has the defense been so much better of late?
Health is a big part of it. The Steelers are finally able to employ some of the different schematic things they had worked on in the offseason and at training camp.
"Now that everybody is healthy, we can really be our versatile defense," Mike Hilton said. "It’s showed the last couple of games. When everybody is healthy and we’re on the same page, we’re hard to beat."
The interesting thing is that it was Coty Sensabaugh manning the outside corner spot opposite Joe Haden. And there were, once again, no busted plays.
That's huge.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers at Ravens, Baltimore, Nov. 4, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS