Each gameday through this NFL season, I'll offer up a special edition of 10 Takes that'll be more akin to a two-minute drill, a collection of final thoughts to consume with the morning coffee.
Or the morning beer, depending on where one spends his or her football Sundays.
• Think of it this way: Everyone would've taken 2-1, right?
Come on, am I right?
No, really, there's nothing revisionist about this stance. Way back on May 12, when the NFL released the 2021 schedule, I'm betting the bulk of the Steelers' beloved Nation saw that opening date in Orchard Park and believed that'd be a loss to the Bills. From there, per the same script, it'd be a bounceback in the home opener against the Raiders, followed by the standard fare against the Bengals.
So, what's changed?
Well, a bunch. And not all of it bad, beginning with that bona fide special Sunday in Buffalo. But following up on that ... my goodness, it's been one bummer after another. The offensive line can't block. There's been no rhythm between Ben Roethlisberger and his receivers. Najee Harris hasn't busted loose. The tight ends are being stowed in a basement somewhere. And the defense, brilliant as it was against the Bills, has disintegrated into one collective groin strain. To the extreme that everyone went from worrying how T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith would replace Bud Dupree to how the team'll replace both Watt and Highsmith today against the Bengals, 1:02 p.m. at Heinz Field.
On the inside ...
"We’re not panicking," Ben was saying a couple days ago. "It’s only the second week. We’re 1-1. We lost to a team that’s 2-0, and it was a one-score game to the end. It feels like a bad feeling, a bad loss, but we understand it’s really early in the season. Everyone in our division’s got the same record, so we’re gonna get ourselves together and get ready to go."
On the outside, though, because of how the season's stage was set, that "bad feeling" has really taken root. At least that's the sense I get from fans. And I appreciate it. I respect it.
I'm just not there. Not yet, anyway.
Three reasons why:
1. They can -- and arguably should -- beat the Bengals today regardless. They've still got the better talent, the better team, home crowd and all that. So 2-1 represents realism, as I see it.
2. A similar plausibility applies to the next three games, as well, against the Packers, Broncos and Seahawks. I'm not downplaying, much less dismissing, any of those three. Plausibility means plausibility. Any or all of the three could wind up a W, and nobody'd be surprised.
3. To quote the '80s techno-pop artist Howard Jones, things can only get better:
You're welcome. Howard was, indeed, ahead of his time.
He left this out of the lyrics, but Zach Banner, Stephon Tuitt and Anthony McFarland can come off IR for Week 4. Given that T.J. was able to put forth an honest effort into practicing this week through the groin injury, it's hard to envision he wouldn't be back, as well. Maybe a few others.
And if Howard had elaborated on his chorus, he could've easily added that the Steelers' current problems don't need to be future problems. If, for example, their internal assessment of the offensive line is accurate -- it's a mistake here or there, and not some overarching lack of ability -- then that'll be solvable. And if it is, so's the offense as a whole.
Remember, the bye week comes unusually early, following Week 6. That won't help down the stretch, but help might be needed more now. The Browns are the first opponent coming out of the bye, and all four meetings with the Browns and Ravens are after that, as well.
Doesn't mean I'm confident in all this playing out in some optimal way. Just pointing out that, if things are going to go wrong, this is the optimal time for it.

CAITLYN EPES / STEELERS
Najee Harris pushes off Marcus Allen on a drill Friday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
• Get the ball to Najee.
Out in space. Behind actual blocks. Heck, hand it to him in the hallway outside the locker room. Whatever it takes. It's been eight games in a row that the Steelers haven't accumulated 100 rushing hards, the longest active streak in the NFL and, to be blunt, an embarrassment.
Get the ball to Najee. And repeat as necessary until Matt Canada hears it in his sleep.
• Another absurd streak: JuJu Smith-Schuster's gone 23 games in a row without achieving 100 receiving yards. No Diontae Johnson and no trusting Chase Claypool to fight for the ball should mean more opportunity for JuJu and, if anyone can find the key to that basement, Pat Freiermuth.
• Few interviews on the city's sports scene are less revealing than those with Canada, and that's understandable given his job. But I did find something of significance within this slice of one statement a couple days ago: "We have to be on the field more. Our number of plays has been too low the last two weeks. Two weeks ago, we had a blocked punt, and OK, maybe that was part of it or whatever. This week, we've got to do a better job staying on the field. Obviously, if it’s third down, part of that is running the ball. There’s a lot of different things you look at, so I don’t want to narrow it down to one."
Unless prime-era Joe Montana and Jerry Rice report today, that'll mean running the ball.
• If the first possession results in three quick sideways flicks to wideouts, everyone's free to storm out of the stadium and demand refunds. All parking reimbursed, too. And booze money. Everyone gets that back, too.
• To blitz Joe Burrow or not?
He's been sacked nine times and hit 16 times over two games, a glaring sign that not even his gruesome knee injury was enough to motivate the Bengals to protect him better. And while it's commendable that he told Cincinnati reporters a couple days ago, "That's part of the game. That's part of being a quarterback. I'm going to keep hanging in there and taking those hits and trying to complete the ball" ... the cold fact is, such scenarios don't end well.
Also, opponents don't exactly back off.
Keith Butler pumped the brakes on the Steelers' blitz, and impressively so, against the Bills. But three-quarters of the four-man front from that day will miss this one, and Chris Wormley and Jamir Jones won't be bringing any heat without help.
So yeah, I'm coming all day. I've got my inside linebackers available, I've got Cam Sutton available, and I'm coming. It'll come with the huge asterisk of sealing the edge on Joe Mixon -- one of countless areas where T.J. excels -- but it's got to come. Protecting the passer is the Bengals' greatest shortcoming, and that's got to be poked and prodded throughout the game.
Go like this, maybe, from the Bears a week ago:
Sack #4
— Mike (Sans) (@bengals_sans) September 20, 2021
Bears get the OL to slide left by bluffing a linebacker onto the line of scrimmage.
Bears then drop both the end and that LB onto coverage while blitzing a LB from the other side. Reiff gets stuck on his man and Burrow never sees the free rusher. pic.twitter.com/x7Ue7sd49A
The best blitzes are the blitzes that don't look like blitzes, huh?
In the same breath, it should be stressed that all of Burrow's sacks have come after he's held the ball for three seconds, so it's not as if coverage can be relaxed.
• Cam Heyward asked Mike Tomlin before the season for a reduction in snap counts, with a goal of preserving energy for increased explosiveness. That's paid off hugely through two games.
Not sure it should apply today. Cam's greatest value to the defense on this day, with so much of the front missing, will be to manage the most routine elements. Take a break some other day later in the year.
• My ultimate plea for the day remains to get physical, get assertive on offense. Whether or not that involves Derek Watt -- better chance of populating Mars by midday -- go with personnel and schemes that emphasize physicality. It's the only long-term solution for this offense and this quarterback at this phase of his career, and it must be put in motion before it's too late.
• Ben's fine. Stop that at once.
• Just for fun: Today will mark, for me, the start of an unprecedented natural hat trick, if one will, in that I'll cover Steelers vs. Bengals this afternoon, Penguins vs. Blue Jackets tomorrow night at PPG Paints Arena, and Pirates vs. Cubs the following night at PNC Park. Three games involving all three teams in as many days.
It's a great time to be alive, and an even greater job. That's never taken for granted.