The Pittsburgh Steelers are legitimate Super Bowl contenders

Entering this season, my thoughts on the Steelers were simple - they'd be better than a season ago by default. Tell me how good the quarterbacks are, and I'll tell you how far they can go. Well, we're 10 weeks deep into the 2024 NFL season, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are legitimate contenders in the AFC.

The win over the Washington Commanders was perhaps the most satisfying of the season. Yes, it's always great to see Pittsburgh just obliterate inferior opponents, which they did against the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets . But what's even more fulfilling and separates the good teams from the great ones is how you fare against the other great teams in the NFL. The Steelers beat a very good Commanders team with an MVP-candidate quarterback and one of the highest scoring offenses on the road and overcame a 10-point second half deficit to do it - those are the things that great teams do and the difference between a playoff team and a contender.

To build on that, it was the way the Steelers won that makes me look at this game as the point of the season to really crown this team as legit. In years past, being down 10 was a death sentence. Allowing more than 20 points meant the game was over. A botched fake punt, a fumble at the one yard-line, losing the turnover battle - all would have resulted in a blowout in previous years. Today, though, the offense stepped up and needed, the defense came up clutch, and they got the pure definition of a team win.

The Steelers' defense somewhat fell apart in this game, allowing consistent explosive plays and a 15-play drive at the end of the first half that led to Washington taking the lead going into halftime. The Commanders got the ball to begin the half and immediately had a 54 yard catch-and-run from Terry McLaurin that led to a Jeremy McNichols score and all of a sudden it was 24-14. The Steelers answered with a nine-play drive of their own that resulted in a Najee Harris touchdown. They had a 14-play drive that resulted in the aforementioned Jaylen Warren fumble at the goal line that could have been the end of the game, for all intents and purposes. However, the defense forced a punt from the end zone and six plays later, a Wilson moon ball to the newly-acquired Mike Williams put the Steelers in the lead for good.