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Can The Steelers Turn Their Ship Around? Or Is It Sinking?

The Pittsburgh Steelers after three games have already lost half the games they lost last season. They are 1-2 and last year they were 12-4. Winning thedivision has become harder because the Raven are 3-0 and have a good offense to compliment their great defense. The two games with the Ravens this year may determine who wins the AFC North.

Cincinnati has the same record as the Steelers and so does the Detroit Lions, who were 0-16 a year ago. The Steelers beat the Titans, who had the best record last season at 13-3, but they are 0-3 now. I know they haven't played their best yet, but the Steelers need to beat the teams that are less talented than they are.

When the schedule came out and I saw they had the NFC North as non-conference games, I was sure they had an easier schedule than last year. The way it looks now that the Bears beat them, the Vikings are 3-0, the Packers are 2-1 and even the Lions have shown they can win this year. Throw into the mix Denver 3-0 and the Chargers at 2-1 who they play this week and their schedule just got harder.

I know it's early and we shouldn't panic, yet. But, they have to start finishing games better. In three games, the Steelers have been outscored by their opponents in the fourth quarter 24-0. They have no fourth quarter touchdowns and have missed several field goals.

The defense has had it's problems too. Maybe not as much as the offense, but the production is down for them also. I know the loss of Polamalu has made a difference in the passion we normally see in the Steelers defense, but they have to step it up. In three games they only had four sacks and 2 turnovers, dispite keeping the opposition under 300 yards of offense.

The Steelers have scored just 47 points in three games and have given up 50. That's an average of a little over 15 points in offense against an average of slightly under 17 points given up. It doesn't take a "rocket scientist" to see that if this continues, they won't get to the post-season.

Their are a couple of bright spots when you look at this team, that if corrected could go a long way to solving some of their problems. First, the defense, even without Polamalu is playing well enough to keep it close. They just need to turn it up a notch and get after the quarterback more. They've got to be more aggressive and cause more turnovers.

On the other side of the ball, the running game is lack-lustre at best. I noticed that when they run behind Willie Colon they get over 5 yards a carry as opposed to when the run behind anyone else they get just 2.6. This ought to open some eyes on the coaches. Don't you think? Parker had a decent game against Cincinnati both running and receiving. It would be nice if Ben could get more balls to him on screens. He's such a good open field runner.

"I think we have to get it fixed in a hurry," Tomlin said Tuesday. "How you fix it is you go out and win football games. If we do that, this will be a distant, miserable moment. If we don't, this will continue. That is the story of the NFL." Sounds like their's a sense of urgency in Tomlin's voice. The Steelers need to show some improvement soon or their chances to repeat could evaporate.

About the Author

Jim Lane writes about the Pittsburgh Steelers on his Steelers blog and Steelers Fan website at http://www.steelers-fan.com . See the Pittsburgh Steelers roster , news and a great selection of Pittsburgh Steelers gear .