Arthur Smith's impact and winning seasons

Checking in with your weekly look at the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, 44-38, in one of the wildest games of the NFL season. It was a huge win for the Steelers as they bounced back from an ugly Thursday night defeat in Cleveland, and also secured at least another winning season under head coach Mike Tomlin. It also saw their offense reach a level league-wide that we have not seen in years as they became one of the top-10 scoring offenses in the NFL this season. That is a dramatic rise for a team that has consistently been near the bottom of the league for the past few years.

The additions of quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields have certainly played a big part in that. Bringing some competent play to the most important position on the field is a game-changer. Prior to Sunday’s game in Cincinnati I thought Wilson’s play this season had gotten to be a little overrated, but he did what you want to see a starting quarterback and offense do to a bad defense. He dominated it. Even if he does not maintain that level of play, he is still a substantial upgrade over what they had the past few years, and even going back into the very end of the Ben Roethlisberger years. It has been a nice upgrade.

The addition of offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has also been an extremely strong move.

When the Steelers hired Smith prior to the season it received mostly mild reactions. It seemed boring. Safe. Not very innovative. There were younger, more exciting hirings made around the league and bringing in somebody that washed out as a head coach that wanted to run the football just seemed …. dull.

The thing that gave me optimism about Smith was that prior to his head coaching tenure in Atlanta, he was an outstanding offensive coordinator in Tennessee on a team that did not have a franchise quarterback. I know those Titans teams had Derrick Henry, but there was a solid two-year stretch where the NFL world was wondering whether or not Ryan Tannehill was a top-10 NFL quarterback. Derrick Henry or not, that is not an easy thing to accomplish.

The one thing I can say about Smith’s offense so far is that it at least operates like an NFL offense should. Again, having a reasonably good quarterback situation helps a lot and changes a lot. But there seems to at least be a plan in place and some serious play-calling. Outside of the Thursday night game in Cleveland I can not recall many situations this season where I walked away from a game thinking to myself, “what the hell was that?”

That was a common response to the Matt Canada era.

This is a good reminder that just because somebody is a good coordinator does not mean they will automatically be a good head coach, and just because somebody does not work out as a head coach does not mean they are a bad coordinator.

Some people in sports are Batman.

Some people are Robin.

It is okay to be Robin.

The Steelers offense still has its shortcomings and flaws. The red zone offense out of the Cincinnati game has not been good, and they are not going to face a defense as bad as the Bengals every week. But the fact they have a top-10 offense at this point in the season, despite having only one proven impact wide receiver, a makeshift offensive line that has been pieced together with backups and rookies due to injuries, and do not have a true franchise quarterback is a testament to the entire staff and roster.

Speaking of the coaching staff.

The Steelers win over the Bengals also extended Mike Tomlin’s run of non-losing seasons to 18 in a row.

This is something that inspires a pretty wide range of passionate reactions among Steelers fans, the local media and the national media, and I want to try to be reasonable about this.

I understand the criticisms of Tomlin. He has his flaws, and the lack of playoff wins since 2016 is a valid point of concern and criticism. I think if you look at each individual game you can maybe explain them away, but you can not hide from the record in those games. They need to be better there. Soon. It is time. They also have the roster to potentially do that this season.

Having said that, it should not entirely take away from the fact that every single season, no matter what the roster looks like, no matter what the quarterback situation is, no matter what the schedule looks like, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a competitive football team.

They have not had a losing season since the 2003 season.

The next-longest run of non-losing seasons in the NFL belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs, who have gone since 2012 without a losing season.

After the Steelers and Chiefs, every other team in the NFL has had at least one losing season within the past five years.

If it was that easy to do, if it was not a big deal, if it was not at least somewhat impressive, more teams would be doing it.

The Steelers have successfully rebuilt multiple times during that run without ever having truly bad seasons. They have transitioned from a franchise quarterback and maintained competitiveness. In 18 seasons under Tomlin they have played exactly one game — Week 17 of the 2012 season — where they were either not already in a playoff spot, or did not have a mathematical chance of making the playoffs. They have played one meaningless game in 18 seasons.

The NFL is not designed for that sort of consistency.

It is designed for teams to randomly and unexpectedly be good. For that to happen, you also need teams to randomly and unexpectedly be bad. The Steelers consistently avoid that.

There is something to be said for that.

Everybody wants to win championships. That is, ultimately, the goal of every team and the reason why you play and watch. But if you set your expectation at championship-or-bust you are only setting yourself up for massive disappointment. Just because your team has won championships in the past (recently or distant) does not mean you are entitled to win them on a more regular basis.

The Steelers have not played in a Super Bowl in 14 years and have not won one in 16 years (I can not believe how quickly time goes) and that seems like a long time. Especially to Steelers fans.

The harsh reality, however, is that is not that long of a time.

There are 20 teams in the NFL with longer Super Bowl appearance droughts than the Steelers. The average current drought among the NFL’s 32 NFL teams is 21 years. There are 22 teams in the NFL with longer Super Bowl winning droughts. The average drought there is 31 years.

Championships are rare. Incredibly rare. As is simply playing for a championship. Just because Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes have ruined the curve for everybody else does not mean your team is failing for not winning more often.

Truthfully the only thing you are owed as a fan as a meaningful and serious effort to try and win, and a competitive, entertaining product. The Steelers give you that pretty much every year.

Yes, it has been too long without a playoff win. Yes, they need to change that. But I am also not going to let that take away from the fact they still consistently make the playoffs and compete for the playoffs despite no longer having a top-tier quarterback. Speaking of, he is currently 46-33-1 in his head coaching career without Ben Roethlisberger as his starter, including a current mark of 28-18 going into Sunday’s since Roethlisberger’s retirement. That is pretty much a 10-win average per 17 games. When you look at what happened to teams like New England, Indianapolis, New Orleans, the New York Giants and several others when their franchise quarterbacks left, not to mention how other coaches perform (or do not perform) when their franchise quarterback is simply out of the lineup, it is pretty impressive.

The lack of playoff success makes it easy to overshadow that. Again, they need to change that. Tomlin needs to change that. Even so, you still have to get to the playoffs for that to happen. The Steelers keep giving themselves a chance to do that. That is more than a lot of other teams and coaches can say on this consistent of a basis.