At 7-2-1 following a big comeback win in Jacksonville, the Steelers were sitting atop the AFC North with a 2 1/2-game lead over the second-place Bengals and Ravens, both 5-5 at that point.
Just five week later, the Steelers find themselves in dire straits heading into the final week. Now just 8-6-1, they no longer control their own playoff fate. They've been passed by the Ravens (9-6) for first place and need a win Sunday at Heinz Field over the Bengals (6-9) and a loss by the Ravens at home against the Browns (7-7-1) to secure their fifth consecutive playoff appearance.
What happened?
Everything can be traced back to opening week, when the Steelers surprisingly were tied by the Browns, 21-21, in a game they led 21-7 midway through the fourth quarter.
Though we didn't know it at the time, some of the issues that cropped up in that game would become themes to this season, issues that have the Steelers on the brink of missing the postseason.
"Really, it's been in some areas that have been common for us," Mike Tomlin said. "Part of us getting ourselves ready to play this week is acknowledging that. We've got to do a better job of taking care of the ball. We didn't get the necessary stop when we needed it late in the ballgame. ..."
That was in response to his team's latest defeat, 31-28 in New Orleans last Sunday. But Tomlin could have been speaking of a myriad of games this season, starting with that tie in Cleveland.
The Steelers turned the ball over six times in their opener in Cleveland. And though it didn't lead to a loss, it certainly contributed heavily to the Steelers not winning a game they could certainly use now.
The Steelers have turned the ball over 19 times in their 14 games since, a number that doesn't seem all that bad until you consider they went through a span of five games -- all wins -- at midseason when they had just three. In their other nine games, they've turned the ball over 16 times. Their record in those games? It's just 3-6.
Compounding that problem is the fact the Steelers have taken the ball away so few times themselves. They have just 15 takeaways, putting them at minus-10. Only Arizona, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and San Francisco have a worse turnover margin. Their combined record is 17-43.
Only the Ravens, Lions and 49ers have fewer takeaways.
If that doesn't make winning hard enough, another issue that came up in the tie against the Browns also proved to be something that would plague the team this season.
Chris Boswell, coming off a Pro Bowl season in which he made 35 of 38 field goals , missed a 42-yard attempt in overtime that would have beaten the Browns. Boswell kicked four game-winning field goals in 2017, including a team-record three as time expired.
This season, however, he faltered from the start. In addition to the miss against the Browns that would have won it, he also missed a critical PAT early in a 33-30 loss to the Chargers, then had two misses in a 24-21 defeat at Oakland, including slipping to the ground on a potential game-tying kick at the end of regulation.
For the season, Boswell has made just 13-of-20 field goal attempts and 43-of-48 PATs. His 12 misses lead the league and have contributed to the Steelers' 5-5-1 record in one-score games, a pretty big turnaround from the 8-2 record they had in such games in 2017.
"Sometimes things don’t go your way," receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey told me. "That’s the kind of season we’ve had. Last year, we won what, six games by two or three points? It just hasn’t gone our way (this year). But we still have a chance."
Actually, it was five games by three or fewer points, but Heyward-Bey's point is well taken.
Finally, the defense has found some inopportune times to allow a late score, starting with that comeback by the Browns.
A James Conner fumble set the Browns up at the 1 for an easy touchdown with 7:32 remaining, but the Browns also went 55 yards to score on a 17-yard touchdown catch by Josh Gordon with 1:58 remaining to tie the game.
The defense also gave up a score in the final two minutes at Cincinnati, against the Chargers and in Oakland and New Orleans. The Steelers recovered to win that game against the Bengals on a late touchdown, but were handed losses by the Chargers, Raiders and Saints when the offense failed to retake the lead or simply ran out of time.
The problems have been common throughout the season. We just didn't know they would be major issues at the time.
Despite all of that, the Steelers still find themselves with a chance to make the playoffs heading into the final week of the regular season. That's more than the 17 teams already eliminated from playoff contention can say.
Figuring out how to fix some of the issues that have been a problem since that opener might have changed the outcome. But so would have a play or made kick here or there.
"Half the league doesn’t have a chance," Heyward-Bey said. "They’re just playing. But we do. We still have a chance."