Despite two losses in a row and three in their past four games, the Steelers still find themselves in the thick of the race for the playoffs in a crowded AFC field.
And they'll have a chance to right the ship and deal another of those teams vying for a playoff spot in the AFC a loss when they travel to Indianapolis on Saturday to face the Colts, who like the Steelers will take a 7-6 record into that game.
The Steelers and Colts are two of six teams in the AFC currently sitting at 7-6, while the Browns, at 8-5, hold the top wildcard spot in the conference.
The Steelers currently sit in the 6th spot in the AFC hierarchy, one spot lower than they began prior to disappointing losses to the Cardinals and Patriots in their past two games. And if they can figure out how to solve a couple of the issues that led to those losses, they still have time to make a strong push toward the postseason in their final four games.
First and foremost for head coach Mike Tomlin is correcting issues with his team's red zone defense.
Going into Sunday's games, the Steelers had the NFL's seventh-best red zone defense, allowing opponents to score a touchdown on 48.7 percent of their drives inside the Pittsburgh 20. But in the losses to the Cardinals and Patriots, the Steelers allowed five red zone touchdowns in five trips.
"We have got to get off the field in those tough circumstances," said Tomlin on Monday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "We have to hold people to field goals, we have to keep them out in the end zone. We have to play better red zone defense than we have in recent weeks."
Over the course of the season, that hadn't been an issue for the Steelers. Prior to their past two games, the Steelers had given up just 13 red zone touchdowns in 32 trips, a touchdown percentage of 40.6 percent.
Attrition has played at least some part in that. The Steelers have played the past three games without strong safety Keanu Neal and also have seen inside linebackers Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander go down to season-ending injuries over the past month.
But with a full week of practice leading up to Saturday's game with the Colts, Tomlin expects better results.
He also expects the results to be better for quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
Trubisky entered late in the first half of the loss to the Cardinals after starter Kenny Pickett was injured and then made his first start of the season against the Patriots on a short week of practice.
The seven-year veteran started slowly against New England, completing three of his first eight passes for 19 yards and an interception that was returned to the Pittsburgh 11. But he went 19 of 27 for 171 yards and a touchdown the rest of the way as the Steelers nearly rallied from a 21-3 deficit in the 21-18 loss.
"I thought Mitch picked up his play as the game wore on," Tomlin said. "I thought that it is a reasonable expectation for him to be even better, because of that experience and because of the experience of having a full week's prep this week, in preparation for the performance in helping reps and things of that nature."
If the Steelers can correct those issues – along with some other more minor things – they could find themselves in a better position moving forward.
But Tomlin isn't looking to sugarcoat anything with his team. He wants the team to understand the urgency of these final four games.
"I think our guys understand that, and I'm not necessarily looking for power positive messages in an effort to build them up," Tomlin said. "I'm probably taking the opposite approach and talking about how urgent you know these weeks and opportunities in games are because the road is getting narrower. We're moving into the middle of December now and so that's just acknowledging the truth. Opportunities to establish your position in these games are big. This one's big, big for us and big for them."
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
Pickett remains out: Tomlin said Pickett, who had surgery a week ago to help speed his recovery from an ankle injury, is out this week.
Outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith are both in concussion protocol.
Highsmith was injured in the first half of last Thursday's game, while Watt reported concussion-like symptoms Friday and was placed in the league's concussion protocol.
"We will rely on the medical experts in terms of their availability," Tomlin said, "and then the stages of availability in terms of as we push through the week, but I don't have a lot of information or detail there."
Tomlin also said linebacker Elandon Roberts (groin), guard Isaac Seumalo (shoulder) and running back Najee Harris (shin) all made it through the game against the Patriots without any setbacks and should be fine moving forward. All were questionable going into the game against New England.
