The halfway point of the season has been the telling point in the AFC Central Division, and if recent history holds true, the Steelers are halfway to their first division championship in four years.
The AFC Central team that has had the best record through eight games has gone on to win the division title in each of the past six seasons.
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Aaron Smith records one of the Steelers' seven sacks Sunday against Browns quarterback Tim Couch. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) |
The previous team to win the division without having the best record at the midway point? The Steelers in 1994.
For the first time in four years, the Steelers lead the Central at the halfway point with a 6-2 record.
"We're on top, we want to stay on top," safety Lee Flowers said. "I've been here seven years, this is probably the first time I've been here that teams have to catch up with us. That's not a good feeling."
They say cornerbacks must have short memories, but Flowers has one as well because the Steelers were in this position in 1995-97. They were 6-2 and went on to finish 11-5 in '97, earning a tiebreaker to nose out 11-5 Jacksonville for the division crown. The Steelers reached the AFC championship at home, but lost to Denver, which went on to win the Super Bowl.
The halfway records of the division leaders since 1995 who also went on to win the division title were the Steelers at 4-4 in '95, the Steelers at 6-2 in '96, the Steelers at 6-2 in '97, Jacksonville at 6-2 in '98, Jacksonville at 7-1 in '99 and Tennessee at 7-1 in 2000.
It's a trend the Steelers don't plan to stop.
"We're all excited," wide receiver Hines Ward said. "We're 6-2. Nobody, I'm pretty sure, predicted us to be 6-2."
The gamblers set their over-under win total at 7 1/2 for the season. Now, they have the look of a team that can get to the Super Bowl. With Oakland's loss to Seattle Sunday, the Raiders, Dolphins and Steelers are tied for the best record in the conference.
The Steelers have some tough games in the second half of the season. They must play the two AFC Central playoff teams from last season on the road, at Tennessee and Baltimore. They also must play the 6-3 New York Jets at home and, this week, play Jacksonville, which beat them 21-3 in the opener, at Heinz Field.
Even though Coach Bill Cowher banned the word "playoffs" a few weeks ago, it will be hard not to bring it up from here on out.
"We have to understand, we have to keep doing this," Flowers said. "If we do, we'll be fine in January."
The Steelers have one of the more balanced teams in the league. They are No. 1 on defense and No. 5 on offense in the NFL by yards. However, they rank No. 24 in scoring points.
One reason they lag so far behind on the offensive scoreboard is their inability to score touchdowns once they reach the opponent's 20. They have made the trip 23 times and scored only six touchdowns, a rate of 26.1 percent that is second worst in the league. Washington is last at 25.0. The Steelers were 0 for 5 once they reached the 20 in Cleveland.
"We're 6-2 and we haven't done particularly well in the red zone getting the ball into the end zone," Ward said. "But we find a way to keep winning ballgames, so we'll take it."
For now, anyway, but the inability to put the ball into the end zone could catch up with them. They have found innumerable ways of not getting into the end zone -- fumbling snaps, tripping over nobody at the 2, fumbling the ball out of bounds past the goal line, dropping potential touchdown passes, even having Jerome Bettis stuffed.
"We have to get better, we know that," Ward said. "When we do, the sky's the limit with this team."
Their passing game has improved but their receiving game has not. Kordell Stewart again was at the top of his game Sunday but four dropped passes plagued him -- one each by Plaxico Burress, Ward, Troy Edwards and Mark Bruener. The difference in those drops might have been the difference in 21 points.
Coaches and staff members said the postgame locker room of the Steelers was like nothing they had seen in years as the Steelers loudly and emotionally celebrated a victory that might loom large as the season continues. Linebacker Joey Porter, who usually gathers some defenders around him after a victory and performs a chant, had the entire team and coaches shouting right along with him after the game in Cleveland.
There was a reason to celebrate because they won the kind of game they had been losing more often the previous three years and because it put them in the driver's seat at the halfway point of the season.
"It's funny in this league," tackle Wayne Gandy said. "Some weeks you blow people out, some Sundays come down to this. As a football team, you can measure yourself having these kinds of games."
By any measure, at the midway point of the season, the Steelers are sitting pretty.
There's history behind Steelers' Central lead 
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