When you overhear banter in a bar these days about the best teams in the National Football League you can be pretty sure the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles are in the conversation. And yes, despite their narrow wins and consecutive point spread losses, a number that has now reached seven games, the two-time defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs are certainly in the mix.
Maybe the Minnesota Vikings, who at 12-2 are only one game behind the Lions in the NFC North Division, are included in the conversation.
But, do you know who is not likely to gain a lot of consideration for the best team in the league and perhaps should?
The Pittsburgh Steelers.
This week, Mike Tomlin and company meet the Eagles in Philadelphia. We know why the Eagles are at the top of a number of lists for best teams, they have the most explosive offensive player in the game this year in runningback Saquon Barkley. They are only two years removed from a Super Bowl appearance and Jalen Hurts and his teammates have been perfect, nine straight wins, since their fifth week bye and the return from injuries of receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
But the Steelers?
This is a team that started the season with a huge question at quarterback. After failing with the first signal caller they spent a first-round draft choice on since Ben Roethlisberger, Kenny Pickett, who is now on the Eagles roster, they opened the season with a couple veteran castoff field generals. They acquired Russell Wilson from the Denver Broncos, who were willing to pay a big chunk of his salary to have him play for a different team, and Justin Fields, another Chicago Bears first round draft choice that didn’t develop into the franchise quarterback they were in search of for the Soldier Field fans.
Then, while the preseason competition between these two veterans didn’t really produce a clear winner for the job, it was about to be rewarded to Wilson … who was then injured, and Fields was behind center to start the season for the Steelers.
To his credit, the new Steelers quarterback won nearly half as many games for the Steelers in six weeks, four, as he did for the Bears in three seasons. During his undistinguished career in Chicago, Fields was 10-28 as a starting quarterback.
Still, when Wilson recovered from his preseason injury, against the advice of many in the media, Tomlin shifted off Fields and inserted Wilson behind center. The veteran, off back-to-back horrendous seasons in Denver where he led the Broncos to only 11 wins in 30 starts, has been nearly as perfect as the Eagles in recent weeks. In his 7 starts for the Steelers, Wilson has led Pittsburgh to six wins.
It’s not only Wilson getting the Steelers wins that has them sitting two games up on the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North Division standings. The tradition of tough defense is still in play with Tomlin, who this year will lead Pittsburgh to an 18th consecutive winning campaign, every year of his coaching tenure.
Oh yeah, I know why the Lions, Bills, Eagles and Chiefs are getting a lot of Super Bowl buzz, but the Steelers have an element that is most common in an ultimate winner … not hampered by having what appears to be an unbeatable team.
Any of the four most talked about teams can expect some Sundays to be a simple task of throwing their helmets into action and expecting a win 60 minutes of game clock later. Not the Steelers, they know they need to scratch-and-claw for every yard and stop to earn a victory over more highly ranked opponents.
Like this week, when in Philadelphia they are getting more points than they will need to land backers at the payoff window on Sunday night.
Qoxhi Picks: Pittsburgh Steelers (+5½) over Philadelphia Eagles