The 2021 NFL season has been as difficult to quit on for most NFL teams as it reportedly is to leave a criminal organization -- at least according to "The Godfather."
All apologies to Michael Corleone, but just when you thought the Steelers were out, the rest of the conference pulls them back in.
Every time the Steelers looked to be on the edge of being completely out of opportunities to salvage a playoff berth over the past month, the rest of the AFC North loses and keeps them alive. And that's just in the division.
The middle of the pack in the conference is a jumbled mess, as well.
But one thing is certain, if the Steelers (6-6-1) have any hope of keeping any postseason hopes alive, they'll need to play better than they did in the first half of last week's 36-28 loss to the Vikings.
The Steelers fell behind 29-0 midway through the third quarter and wound up allowing a season-high 242 rushing yards. Even a furious rally by the offense -- one of many this season -- couldn't salvage the game.
But the margin of error is now nil. With four games remaining, starting with Sunday's game at Heinz Field against the Titans (9-4), the Steelers have to start stacking wins again as they did earlier this season -- when they put together a four-game winning streak -- to make the postseason.
Ben Roethlisberger believes this team has that in it.
"I think you just have to look at guys sometimes and look in their eyes and see what they have," Roethlisberger said. "The crazy thing about this game and this sport is you can look at guys and realize that they have all the heart in the world and they have all the passion, they want it, they’re going to give you everything they have, and sometimes the other team is just better. The other team makes a play and you don’t.
"It doesn’t mean just because you’re losing a football game or the season maybe isn’t going the way that you want it to doesn’t mean guys don’t love it and have heart and aren’t passionate for it. It doesn’t mean that. I just want to see that guys are never going to quit."
The Steelers have certainly shown that. What they haven't shown, however, is an ability to win at the line of scrimmage consistently, particularly of late, against opposing rushing attacks.
The 242 rushing yards allowed against the Vikings wasn't something new. Over their past six games, the Steelers are allowing over 170 rushing yards per game. Enter the Titans, who lead the NFL with 413 rushing attempts, an average of 31.8 per game.
And the Titans have done that despite not having star running back Derrick Henry available the past five weeks.
"Our first halves have been atrocious, and we really have to kick it into gear to climb back into it," said Cam Heyward. "We have to understand when you start a game you can't spot people points. This game is already hard enough as it is. To go into a game and be down 20 some points, that is not a recipe for success."
To that point, the Steelers have to open with a bigger sense of urgency, both offensively and defensively. They can't, as Mike Tomlin often says, take time to warm up to playing in a game."
"The gauntlet's been laid," said Heyward. "Hopefully we'll have something to be proud of this week."
The Steelers could be catching the Titans at the right time. They have a two-game lead in the AFC South that is essentially a three-game lead with four to play based on their sweep of the second-place Colts this season. And not only is Henry out, the Titans also have No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown on the Reserve/Injured List, as well.
But can the Steelers defense be effective enough to stop the Titans?
"For us defensively it's us not stopping the run," free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Steelers' issues. "And then there's one or two big plays that we give up in the secondary that shouldn't happen. I don't know what you can equate it to or not equate it to. You can say energy and all this other stuff but I can't give you a clear-cut answer.
"I know this week we have to come out hot."
That sure would help, offensively, as well. If the Steelers can possess the football and score points, it will take some pressure off the defense. And the Steelers won't be forced to rally in the fourth quarter, where they have scored nearly half their points (133 of 272) this season.
Start fast, finish strong. And more importantly, find a way to get on a roll.
The Steelers enter the weekend a game out of the playoff race in the AFC. They're one-game behind the AFC North leading Ravens in the AFC North standings with division games against the Ravens and Browns remaining.
They're still alive. But they have to take care of business.
"That has been brought up to us," said rookie running back Najee Harris. "We're really focused on the Tennessee Titans but yes, that has been brought up that even though we lost last game we're still in the hunt, still much alive."
Three wins in their final four games might do it. But the Steelers aren't thinking that way. They know that if they win their final four games, they're almost guaranteed to be in the postseason.
"We actually control our own destiny," Harris said. "We win out, we'll be in the playoffs."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Who: Steelers (6-6-1) vs. Titans (9-4)
• When: 1:02 p.m., Sunday
• Where: Heinz Field
• Forecast: 38°, 9 percent chance of rain, 9 mph winds
• TV: KDKA, CBS (National)
• Radio: 102.5 WDVE, ESPN Pittsburgh
• Streaming: Steelers Nation Radio
• Satellite: Sirius XM 226, online 826
• Media notes: Steelers | Titans
THE INJURY REPORT
Steelers: LB Buddy Johnson (foot, out), CB Joe Haden (foot, questionable); DT Isaiah Buggs (ankle, questionable); TE Kevin Rader (hip, questionable)
Titans: FB Troy Carter (ankle, out), CB Janoris Jenkins (ankle, out), LB David Long Jr. (hamstring, out), DL Larrell Murchison (knee, out), G Rodger Saffold III (shoulder, out), NT Teair Tart (ankle, out), OL Aaron Brewer (toe, questionable)
THE KEY VARIABLE
The Steelers are built to rush the passer. They've led the NFL in sacks in each of the past four seasons. Prior to that, no team had ever led the league in sacks in more than two consecutive seasons.
With four games remaining, the Steelers are tied for second in the league with 37 sacks, but failed to get a single one last week against the Vikings -- largely because Minnesota was able to run the ball so effectively and get a big lead.
It also didn't help that star outside linebacker T.J. Watt left in the first half with a groin issue, while his bookend, Alex Highsmith, left early in the third quarter with a quad contusion.
Both will be back for this game, and the Titans have shown some inability to protect Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill has been sacked 27 times this season, third-most in the NFL.
He even was sacked four times in Tennessee's 20-0 win over the Jaguars last week in a game in which the Titans were rarely challenged.
But to be able to rush the passer, the Steelers know they have to stop the run. And that starts with being more physical.
"You've got to look yourself in the mirror and say, we got to go out there and hit them in the mouth every play," said Highsmith. "That's something that Coach Tomlin talks about. It's about going out there and playing old-school football, hit people in the mouth. That's what football is about."
With left guard Roger Saffold out, the Titans will be missing arguably their second-best offensive lineman behind left tackle Taylor Lewan. That should bode well for the Steelers and particularly Heyward.
But the key to the Steelers defense all season long has been Watt. The Defensive Player of the Year candidate has missed two games and parts of three others. The Steelers are 0-4-1 when he doesn't play or doesn't start and finish the game.
"He's disruptive, but he is also a very instinctive, athletic player," said Titans head coach Mike Vrabel. "He brings a lot of different skills to the position. If you overset, he comes under. If you are light, he runs you over. If you overreach in the run game, he comes under and makes a play or disrupts it. Just a very instinctive player."
The Steelers need Watt to bring that disruption in this game. He has 12 of his NFL-best 16 sacks in the Steelers' six wins this season.
"It shows he's the best in the world," Highsmith said of Watt leading the league in sacks despite missing so much time.
The Steelers need Watt to stay healthy if they hope to make a run.
THE HISTORY LESSON
The Houston franchise moved to Tennessee in 1997, but kept the Oilers nickname that season and in 1998. It's that 1998 season at which we go back to in this week's history lesson.
Coming off an 11-5 season in 1997 and a trip to the AFC Championship, the Steelers were expected to compete for a Super Bowl again in 1998 with Kordell Stewart returning and coming off a 32-touchdown season.
And the team got off to a decent, not great start, in 1998, winning five of their first seven games going into a Nov. 1 meeting at Three Rivers Stadium.
But it was Steve McNair and the Oilers who jumped out to a 10-0 lead in this game, getting an Al Del Greco field goal and a 2-yard TD pass from McNair to Frank Wycheck.
The Steelers answered in the second quarter on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Stewart to Charles Johnson. But the Oilers stretched their lead to 17-7 at the half on a 6-yard touchdown pass from McNair to Kevin Dyson.
The Oilers pushed their lead to 34-7, as Del Greco kicked another field goal and Eddie George broke free for a 37-yard touchdown run. Then, early in the fourth quarter, Tennessee got a third touchdown pass by McNair, this time to Willie Davis.
The Steelers answered that score with a second Stewart touchdown pass, this one from three yards out to Courtney Hawkins, then added a two-point conversion catch by Johnson to cut the lead to 34-15, but after a defensive start, Stewart was intercepted by Lonnie Marts, who returned it 27 yards for a touchdown and a 41-15 lead.
Bill Cowher had seen enough of Stewart, who had thrown three interceptions. He replaced him with Mike Tomczak.
Tomczak completed 15 of 17 passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns, both to Johnson, as the Steelers rallied to make the loss look more respectable at 41-31.
The three-interception game was the second of the season for Stewart, who had matched that earlier in the season in a loss to the Dolphins.
And career days by Johnson (9 catches for 115 yards and three scores) and Hawkins (a then-team record 14 receptions for 147 yards and a score) couldn't offset the Oilers holding Jerome Bettis to 26 yards on 11 carries.
It was just the first win by the Oilers at Three Rivers Stadium since 1993 and second since 1989.
But what really made the game memorable was what happened after. The Steelers had begun televising Cowher's post-game press conferences that season. And after that loss, the head coach was testy.
I asked Cowher after the game if he any thoughts regarding who would start at quarterback the following game against the Packers.
"No," Cowher replied.
Ed Bouchette then followed up by asking Cowher, "No thoughts?"
"No," Cowher replied.
"How will you ..." Bouchette began to ask before Cowher tersely cut him off.
"No, no thoughts," Cowher angrily replied.
Cowher was then asked why he played Tomczak and he said he wanted to get Tomczak some work before returning to Bouchette and me.
Cowher then turned back to Bouchette and raised his voice: "Did that answer your question, Ed? Ask me again."
Bouchette: "Bill, I'm just trying to get it clear."
Cowher: "Ask the question! Ask the question! I'll answer you!"
Bouchette: "Will you consider starting Tomczak against Green Bay on Monday?"
Cowher, pointing to me: "I thought that was the same question he asked."
Bouchette: "No, I'm rephrasing it."
Cowher: "My answer was no, right? OK, ... no!"
The city was abuzz with Cowher's explosion, superseding what had happened in the game, which dropped the Steelers to 5-3.
In fact, the exchange continued to be the talk of the town even the next day, prompting a story in the Post-Gazette regarding it that was written by someone who would go on to start his own web site one day -- though he didn't interview me for the story.
GETTY
Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense needs to start faster.
THE MAIN MATCHUP
Over his past eight games, Roethlisberger has thrown 15 touchdown passes against just three interceptions. He's averaged over 250 passing yards per game in that span, putting him on a pace for over 4,000 yards with 30 touchdown passes and just six interceptions.
The Steelers are 5-3 in those games.
Roethlisberger enters this game needing just 27 passing yards to move past Philip Rivers into fifth place on the NFL's all-time passing yardage list and has been at his best in the fourth quarter of games. Of his 19 touchdown passes this season, 10 have come in the fourth quarter, the most in the NFL.
"We have all seen his success late in the game, just his ability to move them down and score quickly," Vrabel said. "I know that is not where they would want to have been, but it says a lot about him and his offense. They have very, very good skill players. The receivers are all good. The running back is exceptional. They have had some moving pieces with the O-line, but Ben makes it all go. Very good down the field and a very good deep ball thrower.
"He is going to take shots and they have done a great job of coming down with them or creating a penalty. Really good technique down the field. He is not like he was when he was younger, but he is still big and it is going to be tough to tackle him."
The "exceptional" running back, Harris, leads all rookies with 1,270 total yards (873 rushing, 397 receiving) and also has nine touchdowns. His yardage total already is the most by a Steelers rookie in team history.
But the Titans have one of the NFL's stingiest run defense, bolstered by allowing just eight rushing yards on eight carries in a 20-0 win over the completely disfunctional Jaguars last week.
Much like the Patriots, where Vrabel played for nearly a decade after leaving the Steelers, who drafted him in 1997, the Titans use multiple looks up front to make things tough on the opposing offense. They also have some defensive stars in defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, outside linebacker Harold Landry and safety Kevin Byard. Former Steelers first-round draft pick Bud Dupree, signed by the Titans in the offseason, was activated Saturday from the Reserve/Injured List. He returned to practice earlier this week.
The Steelers had some issues up front last week in their loss to the Vikings identifying protections on their line and it led to a slow start both running the ball and protecting Roethlisberger, who was sacked five times in the game.
"Every time you line up it's not gonna be perfect, it's not going to be pretty, but you just have to get the job done," said right guard Trai Turner. "I give kudos to those guys up front. They battled back and came back and played really hard in that second half. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. We have to come out and we have to start the game like that but there's no soul-searching. It's not like it was different guys playing in that first half. Sometimes you've got to lock back in and hone back in, there's games like that. I just wish we could have got it done sooner than we did."
The Steelers want to start fast to help out their defense and not have to play so much from behind. The offense has played with a lead just 20 percent of the time this season, a percentage that is 29th in the league.
When the Titans have lost this season, it's largely been because they've fallen behind. The Cardinals led them 24-6 at the half in a 38-13 victory in Week 1. They fell behind the Texans 12-0 at the half in a 22-13 loss in Week 11. A week later, the Patriots led 16-13 at the half and 26-13 after three quarters in a 39-13 rout of the Titans.
Tennessee, with its run-heavy offense, isn't built to come back.
But the Steelers and Roethlisberger want to find a way to start fast. They're 25th in the NFL in first-half scoring offense.
That could mean going to their no-huddle attack earlier in games rather than simply using it late in games.
"I feel it allows teams to not have the right personnel on the field to continue to stop us," said wide receiver James Washington. "When you let Ben just kind of go with the flow of the game, he usually dials up some stuff that that works and gets us down field and usually gets us a touchdown or what we need. I like the fact that we do it.
"We'll go no-huddle and we'll usually get a spark, and somebody will make a play downfield or whatever it may be. And that's really all we need is just that one play to pop off and I feel like we're going from there."
THE TEN DATA POINTS
• The Steelers have allowed 4,827 yards through 13 games, the most through 13 games in franchise history.
• The Titans average a gain of 20 or more yards once every 26.5 offensive plays, the lowest rate in the league.
• Tannehill has thrown one or fewer touchdown passes in all but two games this season. He has just four touchdown passes in Tennessee's last five games.
• Pat Freiermuth has a touchdown in six of the Steelers' past seven games. His seven touchdown catches are one more than the other 10 tight ends selected in this year's draft have combined. But the Titans have allowed just 52 receptions for 442 yards and three touchdowns to the position this season.
• Tannehill has six rushing touchdowns this season and has rushed for 225 yards on 41 carries. But since Henry was lost, he has just 18 carries for 60 yards.
• The Titans average a gain of 20 yards or more just once every 26.5 snaps. That is the worst rate in the league.
• The Titans have allowed 200 receptions to opposing wide receivers, the most in the NFL by 12. They also have given up an NFL-high 2,569 receiving yards to opposing wideouts. Their 16 touchdown catches allowed are second-most.
• Roethlisberger will tie Fran Tarkenton for sixth on the all-time games played list at quarterback with 246.
• Roethlisberger and Tannehill are tied for the most game-winning drives in the NFL since the start of the 2020 season with nine each. They also are tied for the most fourth-quarter comebacks in that period with eight each.
• The Titans have given up 896 rushing yards to opposing running backs, fourth-fewest in the NFL. The Steelers have allowed 1,498, fourth-most.
THE FANTASY CORNER
I finished in the money again last week with 152.24 points with Javonte Williams, Hunter Renfrow, Mark Andrews and K.J. Osborn being nice hits. That left me in the money three weeks in a row. We'll go for four this week and since the Steelers are playing Thursday night, we'll include that game as part of our slate. Remember, I'm building a fantasy lineup using Draft Kings and a $50,000 salary cap.
Quarterback: Justin Fields, Bears ($5,500) -- Fields is running more than he did early in the season. And his passing has gotten better. He should have some success against the Vikings secondary.
Running back: David Montgomery, Bears ($5,900), James Robinson, Jaguars ($5,400) -- Montgomery is the main runner for the Bears and also catches more than his share of passes. Robinson gets to face a Texans run defense that Penny ran all over last week. And with Urban Meyer now thankfully gone, perhaps the coaching staff will give him the ball.
Wide receiver: Davante Adams, Packers ($8,900), Christian Kirk, Cardinals, ($5,300), Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lions, ($5,200) -- I'll pay up for Adams, who could have 20 catches against the Ravens if he wants. With DeAndre Hopkins out, Kirk should have a big game against the Lions. St. Brown has gotten double-digit targets the past two games. He's like Hunter Renfrow light right now.
Tight end: Mike Gesicki, Dolphins ($5,000) -- With Jaylen Waddle out, Gesicki becomes the No. 1 option in the Miami passing offense against the Jets.
Flex: Myles Gaskin, Dolphins ($5,600) -- Gaskin was activated off the COVID-19 List Friday and should be good to go against the Jets, who are 32nd in the NFL against opposing backs in fantasy points allowed.
Defense: 49ers ($3,200) -- The 49ers should be able to get a pass rush on Matt Ryan at home.
