Kevin Connelly: Steelers’ fate still a mystery

The Pittsburgh Steelers are who we thought they were.

Now let’s see if they can let their own worst enemy off the hook.

Two home wins is all that stands between the Steelers (9-5, 5-3 AFC North) and their first division title since 2010.

It won’t be easy since both games are against conference playoff contenders — Kansas City is the first team out of the last wild card spot and Cincinnati has a half-game lead in the division — but that should be a welcomed sight for the black and gold.

After all, their best games this year have come against the top half of the league.

The first was a Sunday night game in Week 3 against a Carolina team that many believed to be a contender this season in the NFC. As it turns out they’re not — but kind of still are, since they’re actually in first place in a lousy NFC South — but still a convincing road win nonetheless.

The next two were back-to-back home games in the middle of the season. An aerial show that Pittsburgh fans have never before seen against division-leading Indianapolis, followed by a return-the-favor type performance against division rival Baltimore.

However, the most recent was a dominating second-half effort against the Bengals, setting up a winner-take-all scenario the final week of the regular season — should the Steelers take care of business against the Chiefs.

The troubling part in all of this is no matter how impressive they’ve played against playoff-caliber teams, they’ve looked equally as pedestrian versus the league’s worst: Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, New York Jets and Tennessee — a combined 9-47 this season.

And yet the Steelers are 2-2 in those games.

So the fact that two opponents with winning records are coming into town at least means the season won’t end at the hands of a team with a top-five pick in next year’s draft.

Bottom line is two more home victories — in games Pittsburgh should (and probably will) be favored — and this group is back in the post season and hosting a playoff game.

If not, well it’s pretty clear why.

You can’t give a pair of two-win teams one of those victories. Not if you have playoff aspirations.

Surveying the landscape around the league and the Steelers’ offense is not only playoff caliber, it’s Super Bowl caliber.

Ben Roethlisberger ranks second in passing yards, Le’Veon Bell is second in rushing yards and Antonio Brown leads the league in receiving.

There’s no other team, when clicking offensively, that has the balance the Steelers have with the Killer B’s.

There’s fact and there’s opinion.

That’s a fact and the stats prove it.

However, it’s also a fact that defense wins championships and Pittsburgh has a top-10 draft pick worthy defense.

The Steelers are who we thought they were — often a force offensively, sometimes tolerable defensively and wildly inconsistent weekly.

Kevin Connelly is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at kconnelly@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Connelly_Vindy.