The Steelers are off to an awful 2-3 start after their loss to the Titans on Thursday. That's the bad news. But wait -- there's even worse news, as Ed Bouchette points out. In compiling that 2-3 record, the Steelers have only played one team (the Eagles) that currently has a winning record.
Now they have the Bengals, Redskins and Giants, two out of three with winning records. This team could easily start out 2-6 rather than 6-2.
The Steelers really have themselves in a hole after losing to teams like the Raiders. Now they have to play teams like the Giants and Bengals that are actually pretty competitive. These games aren't unwinnable for the Steelers, and it's worth pointing out that, for all the hand-wringing going on in Steeler Nation this morning, two of their losses have been by only three points, and the Steelers have scored one more point than they've allowed so far. Still, it looks awfully likely that this simply isn't as good a Steelers team as we're used to seeing. At this point, that opinion is likely to persist unless they can win at least a couple of their next three games.