Kovacevic: Zero excuses for Steelers to fail to contend in this AFC field

CINCINNATI -- No Joe Haden?

Sorry, but that'll be no excuse on this Sunday any more than any excuse should apply the rest of the way for these mercurial yet maddeningly mediocre Steelers.

Hate to sound harsh after that legit from-the-heart push last weekend in Los Angeles, but the phase of the NFL season where anyone can afford to worry about improving upon individual facets or inspirational non-victories of any variety ... man, that'll all end with the flight of the football at 1:02 p.m. inside Paul Brown Stadium.

Why?

Nothing to overthink:

DKPS

Mm-hm. It's all about the outcome now.

Such is the state of the AFC North and, heck, the entire conference that any conversation about which team or teams might be atop the class is a complete waste of time. Because this isn't a normal year. There's no Tom Brady-era Patriots to overcome. Nor, for that matter, the peak Patrick Mahomes Chiefs. Or even the Josh Allen Bills or Derrick Henry Titans. There's nothing and no one that rises above, and that very much includes the Ravens. Any and all can lose to the Jaguars, Jets or Texans.

To say nothing of tying the Lions.

Thus, at least as I see it, all those separate elements that seemed so important earlier this season toward seeing the Steelers mature into a bona fide contender, the kind we'd come to expect to challenge for a top seed, aren't exactly a disqualifier anymore. It's not about who'll blossom into a contender, since the bar's plunged so far that almost everyone's already bleeping there.

Don't misunderstand, please. It'd behoove the Steelers in a bunch of ways if the offensive line didn't stink, if the inside linebackers could make the occasional tackle, if Ben Roethlisberger could unearth his once-dangerous deep ball, if the wide receivers could gain more than a millimeter's separation, if Cam Heyward weren't utterly abandoned on the defensive front, if the secondary could come up with more than a takeaway a month. In fact, it'd be awesome if all six magically materialized. Whether they're facing injuries or illnesses or inexperience, they're all as free as everyone else to become a better football team into the winter, and they'd be derelict in duty to not keep pushing toward that.

But I don't see any of those half-dozen shortcomings being fixed. And, more pertinent to the point, because of how the field's fallen back to them, I'm just not sure it means much.

Beat these Bengals. Then beat the Ravens back home. Then fly to Minneapolis and beat the Vikings on a short week.

Do so in an underwhelming way, do so in an outright ugly way, but do it.

Then ask me again in, oh, a couple weeks and change how much style will matter for whichever AFC team advances to the only measuring stick that applies to any season.

• Apologies in advance if what's above comes across as a gross oversimplification of a complex circumstance. But that's where I am with this football team and this football season.

What I'm seeing in the NFL in 2021 isn't terribly different from what I'm seeing each weekend from the Steelers. Anyone can beat anyone. Anyone can look smooth one series, an abject mess the next. That's how the whole Thanksgiving triple-header went, actually. Even when Allen and the Bills blew out the Saints, they did so with the unshakeable memory of having the reverse done to them in Jacksonville three whole weeks earlier.

Maybe it's the salary cap at work. Maybe it's the endless wealth of talent that comes from the NCAA ranks. Maybe it's just one of those years.

Whatever it is, here's guessing no one will attach an asterisk to the last team standing.

• To put it yet another way, painting the Steelers as some sort of scrappy overachieving underdog because they're dealing with adversity would be to take away the pressure they very much should be feeling because of this bland field.

They should be winning.

Not necessarily because they're good but because the landscape's so level.

• First step's right here, right now. And give some small credit to Mike Tomlin for attempting earlier in the week to echo some of the same sentiment that seemed to resonate with his players before beating the Browns a month ago.

"This is significant AFC North football for us," he was saying Tuesday. "Very similar to the circumstances that we were in when we were readying ourselves to go to Cleveland. These games are big. They are. You’re not gonna backdoor your way into the single-elimination tournament. You’re not gonna backdoor your way into division significance. You’ve gotta go on the road and win games in this division, and that’s just the reality of it. The sugar on top is obviously, earlier in the season, they were able to come into our place and win. It’s a big game for us, it’s a big game for them. There’s positioning relative to it, and so we’re not gonna play it cool, we’re not gonna pretend like it’s not."

He had me with everything but the backdoor stuff. Out of seven entrants into the AFC single-elimination tournament, I'll bet no less than a handful make full use of that particular door.

• Haden, declared out yesterday because of a sprained foot, will be missed. But the starting corners in his wake will be Cam Sutton and James Pierre, the latter having grown with each passing week. And adding Minkah Fitzpatrick's return -- we're all appreciating him now, right? -- and T.J. Watt back to pressure Joe Burrow, I'm not finding a reason the Steelers should allow JaMarr Chase, Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins to roam free.

• Friendly reminder for anyone citing the Bengals' victory Sept. 26 at Heinz Field as some seismic precedent: Neither Watt nor Alex Highsmith played. And Melvin Ingram was never as effective as so many made him out to be.

Quick, name the only game all season in which Burrow, who's been sacked 28 times, kept a clean jersey.

Yep.

• Devin Bush is playing hurt. We get it. Everyone involved, including Tomlin, now cites this at every chance.

But there's nothing admirable, much less acceptable, about a professional athlete giving less than maximum effort. And there can't be any doubt, upon even a casual glance at his film, that Bush isn't trying his hardest. The lame one-handed arm-tackle attempts, the laissez-faire failures to shed blocks, those have not a thing to do with the human knee.

Can't believe this needs to be written, but the player who tries harder just might be more effective. With Robert Spillane already assigned to third-down packages, there's little harm in making him the starter and using Bush to spell him, rather than the reverse.

Think Spillane might try hard?

• When Mike Hilton makes his first successful blitz today for Cincinnati, don't be a negative ninny and instead focus on the $10.25 million in available cap space that Kevin Colbert and Omar Khan still have!

• You know, boomeranging back to my lede, I could be convinced the Steelers would overcome those half-dozen shortcomings if Chase Claypool were ever to become what he's supposed to be. Meaning a deep-ish threat, even if that's via the slot. That'd neutralize a lot else, just that one thing.

Anyone envisioning it? Yeah?

• Bold, specific prediction for the day: Minkah pick!

OK, so that wasn't all that bold. I'll try again: Thirty touches for Najee Harris!

• Thanks for reading, as always! Dale Lolley and I are here to double-cover, and we'll offer full coverage afterward!