Kovacevic: The venue, the opponent, illnesses, injuries ... forget 'em all

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's the 'loudest stadium in the world,' or so the denizens of Arrowhead have long claimed, in large part because of a decibel reading back in 2014 that peaked at 142.2, per the good folks at Guinness. That roughly rivals the noise from standing on the deck of an active aircraft carrier. Or from a Kiss concert ... confined to a Starbucks café.

Won't matter today. At all.

The AFC's two-time defending champs, and yet again the clear class of the conference, have won seven in a row by being dominant on both sides of the ball.

Won't matter, either.

That powerhouse opponent might or might not be missing one or more of football's premier offensive weapons.

Nope. Not even that.

Sorry to condense a gameday analysis down to a single sentence, but all I'm seeing in advance of Steelers vs. Chiefs here today, 4:25 p.m. Eastern, is this: Ben Roethlisberger and his offense need to put up a minimum four touchdowns to keep pace with Patrick Mahomes.

Anyone envisioning that?

OK, cool, so the column's done?

No, seriously, the Chiefs have lost four times, all within the season's first seven weeks, and these were their opponents' scoring outputs: 36, 30, 38, 27. One of those was a one-point loss, another a six-point loss. 

And all of those, by the way, occurred well before Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill and all the usual exemplary talents finally found a full liftoff for 2021. Since then, spanning the ongoing seven-game winning streak that's the league's longest, they've averaged 28.1 points per game, and their past two have brought 48 and 34 points.

As Mike Tomlin worded it early in the week, "We've got a lot of work ahead of us. We've got to take care of the ball. We've got to score points. The 19 points that we scored last week, I don't think it's realistic to think that's going to be enough to get out of the stadium with a victory this time around."

Not a chance. A touchdown and four field goals worked against the Titans only because the defense found four turnovers. That won't happen here.

"Obviously, the games write themselves, but we'd better come in being prepared to score points," Tomlin continued. "We'd better be prepared to minimize them, particularly in situational football, in an effort to get off on third down. You can't have senseless third-down losses from a defensive perspective. You've got to get off on a short field and make them settle for field goals. If they're scoring touchdowns, you're going to have tough sledding."

Tougher than Santa in a sandstorm.

Oh, and anyone else notice how quickly he pivoted from how the offense needs to score a bunch of points to defense, defense, defense?

Any sane individual would.

Look, I'm not about to bury Ben Roethlisberger, especially not with the extra fire he's shown over the past month or so. These are the final few weeks of his Hall of Fame career, and he's clearly set on extending it by carrying this offense, kicking and screaming if needed, into the playoffs. Doubting Ben's a bad way to win bets when he's like this.

But the rest ... man, don't make me do this again.

I could see Diontae Johnson, at some point the rest of the way, having the kind of above-and-beyond showing that'd be needed. He's capable, he's confident and he's certainly skilled enough. He might even be a top-10 wide receiver in the league, with 86 catches, 1,028 yards to show for elite route-running and some of the sport's surest hands.

That's it. That's the list.

Najee Harris hasn't seen daylight since this past summer. Chase Claypool hasn't been the star of a single game since he was a rookie. James Washington's wasted most every opportunity to step up. Pat Freiermuth's out because of a concussion. Zach Gentry's much improved but not that much. And the offensive line ... I just can't. Not anymore. 

For the Steelers to prevail today, they'll need not one, not two, not a handful but pretty much everyone on offense to rise so far above anything they've shown to date that it's hardly worth weighing. They are who they are, collectively and individually.

Either that, or they'll need to take the ball away from Mahomes as if he were ... well, Ryan Tannehill, maybe a handful of times. Which would entail cloning T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward.

Shout this out loud: None of that's happening.

KARL ROSER / STEELERS

Ben Roethlisberger boards the team charter Saturday at Pittsburgh International Airport.

• Three more games for the quarterback. Remember what matters.

• The only thing that makes the defensive scenario above remotely feasible is that T.J. Watt's on the trip. One of countless reasons he should be the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year is that he's likely rewritten more set-in-stone scripts than anyone anywhere.

• It’s not taboo anymore to talk about Najee’s lack of big runs, is it?

Heck, he acknowledged that himself a couple days ago on the South Side, saying to that subject, "Of course you want that as a running back, but that takes a team effort creating that kind of hole. Have I had that many looks at having, like, a 60-yard run? I mean, I don't think I have. I could go back and look at it again. But if you look at the good running teams like the Colts, a lot of them are executing their assignments. The Titans, a lot of them are executing their assignments. So ... we're just not there yet, I guess. But we're gonna get there. It comes in time."

Hey, no back’s run harder anywhere in the NFL. Najee’s broken a tackle once every 13.8 carries, ranking 21st in the NFL in that category, per Pro Football Reference. Other analysts rate him higher. 

But to stress again from above, it’s an extraordinary time that requires extraordinary efforts from everyone, especially the top tier. And he hasn’t been that since probably the 122-yard production against the Broncos way back in early October.

I know, I know. But more’s needed. Now.

• Najee's references, of course, were to Jonathan Taylor's Colts and (a healthy) Derrick Henry's Titans. And he's right that those offenses are generally more advanced up front than the Steelers'. But Najee's also got his own strides to make before anyone's breathing his name in the same sentence with those two. 

• Baker Mayfield's not just the worst quarterback in the division. He's one of the worst in the NFL. As if his four picks yesterday in Green Bay weren't enough, he's now got 52 in 58 career starts for Cleveland.

"I hurt this team," Mayfield would say afterward.

"He's our starting quarterback," Kevin Stefanski would say to a question on that count related to the rest of the season. "Yes."

Yes, indeed. And if the rest of the division's really lucky, Mayfield will finally get that big, big, big contract he deserves. All in guaranteed dollars. Gold bullion if necessary.

• Take it from Terry Bradshaw:

• The only teams lower than the 7-8 Browns in the AFC standings are the Jets, Texans and Jaguars. Fine company to keep. So much for everything changing all over the world.

• Presuming the playoffs are still seen as plausible for the 7-6-1 Steelers, what's the more prudent path: AFC North or the broader conference?

Believe it or not, it might be the latter.

The Bengals should take care of the ravaged Ravens -- missing Lamar Jackson and backup Tyler Huntley -- in a meeting of 8-6 teams today in Cincinnati. And if that happens, the Bengals pretty much take the division.

Meanwhile, the Steelers are currently ninth in a seven-team playoff pool, needing the Ravens and one other team to drop out. Maybe the Bills, who are 8-6 and lost to the Steelers. Maybe the Chargers, who are 8-6 and beat the Steelers. 

More options. More opportunity.

Won't mean a thing without taking two of the final three and, given how this one should unfold, that'll mean beating the Browns and Ravens.

• The only AFC city in which every fan isn't completely convinced their favorite team stinks is this one. And with the Cardinals and Buccaneers descending, that might soon be true of the whole league.

• If Andy Reid's smart -- he is -- he'll find a way to get the ball to Hill in the backfield, the way he once ran it regularly. This defense won't stop him if it's two-hand touch. And that goes double if Kelce plays and forces Minkah Fitzpatrick and/or Terrell Edmunds to apply full focus to him.

• JuJu Smith-Schuster, dressed as Santa for a terrific video series he's been doing with the Steelers, blurted out on one of those this past week that he'd love to get a four-year extension to stay in Pittsburgh.

He won't get four years from anyone, but I'd be more than open to keeping him. Too many other needs in the draft to keep picking wide receivers up high.

• Deep condolences to Pressley Harvin III on the passing of his father on Christmas morning. 

His father had been terminally ill but was blessed to see his son play football last weekend at Heinz Field, thanks to the Steelers having made special arrangements to accommodate him. 

Harvin posted the following on his Instagram account yesterday:

Fans booed Harvin for his abysmal punting in that game last week. That’s completely understandable, from this perspective. What Harvin had been enduring hadn’t been made public until later. The fans came to watch a football game, and they had every right to react to a football performance.

That said, this might still serve as a painful reminder that we don’t always know what real-life event these individuals might be encountering. 

• Thank you, as always, for reading. Here’s hoping, for everyone, a healthy, happy holiday season. 

Dale Lolley and I will have your coverage here today from Arrowhead.