Mike Tomlin has the Steelers as this year’s NFL surprise

When quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2, few envisioned the Pittsburgh Steelers becoming a force in the AFC.

Throughout the offseason, the dialogue focused entirely on the Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

How would they fare without both Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell? Can James Washington make the next step? Is Ben Roethlisberger even good anymore?

But it turns out, none of those questions have mattered. Instead, the Steelers are off to a 5-4 start and have one of the NFL’s top-10 defenses in points per game allowed.

Perhaps more attention should have been placed on key defensive players such as rookie Devin Bush when discussing the Steelers this offseason, but the deciding factor in Pittsburgh’s playoff chances wasn’t even on the roster before September.

Defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick already has five interceptions, eight passes defended, and a decisive defensive touchdown in last week’s win over the Los Angeles Rams. Fitzpatrick has become the Steelers X-Factor, supplying the Steelers with the game-changing talent in the secondary that they have desperately needed since Troy Polamalu left.

The Steelers are more than Fitzpatrick on defense, though. T.J. Watt already has 9.5 sacks and 22 QB hits, which is a season’s worth of statistical production for most edge rushers. Former first-round pick Bud Dupree has been a late-bloomer, providing Watt with a synergistic partner off the edge behind a Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt-led defensive line that has long been regarded as one of the NFL’s better three-man fronts.

Defense alone doesn’t win championships, so the Steelers need to keep doing enough on offense. Without many true playmakers, “enough” is essentially equivalent to not throwing the game away. The Steelers are following an age-old blueprint of stout defense, timely defensive playmaking, and game management at quarterback.

Mason Rudolph came into the season with no experience as an NFL starter and a wide receiver corps of uncertain quality, but he’s been surprisingly competent. Statistically, Rudolph has been accurate with a completion percentage hovering around 65% and nearly three times as many touchdowns as interceptions.

While Rudolph has dinked and dunked his way to just 6.6 yards per pass attempt and barely averages 10 yards per completion, he’s fulfilled the only role expected of him: don’t let the other team get their hands on the football.

How long this approach remains successful is contingent on the Steelers running game, which is averaging 3.5 yards per carry despite having a few talented running backs. Playing with a quarterback who averages so few yards per completion hurts a running back’s efficiency, but as Rudolph and Washington earn Mike Tomlin’s trust, maybe more big plays from the passing game will yield success for James Conner and Jaylen Samuels.

As important as it is to praise the Steelers defense as individual players and give a little nod to Rudolph clearing the low bar of not being terrible, most of the kind words should be saved for Tomlin. His leadership and experience have been invaluable to the Steelers, who have shown great resiliency as an organization after a difficult offseason and an early injury to Big Ben.

Tomlin has navigated difficult waters before. He’s been the subject of unfair job speculation in the past that disregarded his prolific coaching success and knowledge, and he also had to deal with the volatile situation between Brown and Roethlisberger in 2018. So only having to deal with tactical issues, such as underperforming offensive players, is merely child’s play to a former Super Bowl winner and perennial playoff-contending coach in Tomlin.

The 2019 season could be Tomlin’s finest coaching job yet. He’s helped rebuild the Steelers defense into one of the league’s most feared units. Outside of a Week 1 blowout loss to the New England Patriots, the Steelers have never lost by more than one score in a single game, and that includes tough battles with the likes of the then-undefeated San Francisco 49ers.

Now, the Steelers are on a four-game winning streak and have solidified themselves as a playoff-quality team in the AFC North. Whereas Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns stole the summer hype, the Steelers have been the better football team through 10 weeks by emphasizing two key areas, coaching and defense. Pittsburgh may have to improve offensively later in the season, but, for now, their weaknesses on offense are simply the asterisk to a solid team.