Steelers are in search of winning formula

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Steelers’ fingerprints can be found all over the Green Bay Packers’ playbook and game plans. Aaron Rodgers hears the Pittsburghese in Mike McCarthy’s voice whenever he gets angry, and the Packers’ postgame snack in their coach’s hometown will be his favorite pizza.

The Packers’ coaching staff is loaded with Steelers alumni in defensive coordinator Dom Capers and assistants Kevin Greene, Darren Perry and Tom Clements. The Packers switched defenses from the 4-3 to the 3-4 because, well, it was the Pittsburgh way to go.

“Their defense is one of the top defenses in the last two decades in the National Football League,” McCarthy said. “They’re always going to be in the game because of that defense. We have a lot of respect for their outside rushers and scheme and, frankly, it has a lot to do with why we’re now in a 3-4 defense.”

It’s not that the Packers are trying to copy the Steelers, even if a team that’s won six Super Bowls and two in the last four seasons would be an ideal franchise to model. Rather, Green Bay is so infused with Pittsburgh’s DNA, it’s only natural that the Packers are so Steelers-like in how they prepare, how they go about their business, how they play defense.

Maybe that’s why the Packers (9-4), winners of five in a row and possibly only a victory away from the playoffs, view their game against the slumping Steelers (6-7) with a wary eye and a measure of trepidation.

After losing five in a row, the Steelers need a mini-miracle to reach the playoffs a season after winning the Super Bowl. They’ve shown a baffling inability to beat bad teams — losing to the Chiefs (3-11), Raiders (4-9) and Browns (2-11) in a month’s time — but defeating a good one like Green Bay might allow them to reclaim their self-respect.

Right now, the Steelers seem baffled about why they’ve gone from good to bad so quickly, with Ben Roethlisberger saying, “We’re stunned.” They looked like it while losing 13-6 in Cleveland, playing with little intensity or passion.

The Packers don’t anticipate that being a problem today.

“I’m sure there’s a sense of urgency on that side,” Rodgers said. “But I think we understand what we’re playing for as well. We’re in the thick of this wild card, and we need to take a great step forward in this journey, if we can get a win.”

Get a win. That’s the Steelers’ theme for the week, too, after a last-minute loss at home to Oakland on Dec. 6 segued into that embarrassing loss at Cleveland four days later. Just get a win. Don’t talk about salvaging the season or winning three of row or being respectable; get one win, and then the healing can start.

“The emphasis for me and my guys is not to ‘Hang in there,’ ” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Adversity is as much a part of this game as blocking and tackling. It’s important that we keep that in perspective, and the perspective is we haven’t played much winning football.”