They don’t play pretty football and don’t stand for spectacle – but they win their games. The Pittsburgh Steelers can become the big surprise team of the season. Comment.

Let’s be honest: Who really had the Pittsburgh Steelers on their radar before the season? The franchise didn’t figure at all in most experts’ predictions.

The competition in the AFC North was considered so strong that the Steelers even seemed to be in danger of going under. In addition, Kenny Pickett was considered the weakest quarterback in the division after his rather mixed rookie season.

The truth on the field, however, looks different. The Steelers don’t shine with spectacular football, they don’t produce an offensive spectacle – but they do win their games. With the 20:16 in the Thursday Night Game against the Tennessee Titans, they improve to a record of five wins and three defeats.

Pittsburgh Steelers are the anti-Chargers

Under Head Coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers are practically the anti-chargers of the NFL: not pretty football, but good results.

With an average gain of 278.5 yards, the Steelers have statistically the fifth weakest offense in the NFL. The scoring average of 16.6 is even the fourth worst of all 32 teams.

At first glance, the defense’s numbers don’t look much better: The Steelers allow an average of 377.3 yards per game. Only the Los Angeles Chargers (390.9) and the Denver Broncos (405.9) are even weaker.

But: The Steelers don’t concede as many points as many other teams. With an average of 20.4 points, they are still in 16th place.

Considering that this figure was inflated by the two losses against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 (7:30) and the Houston Texans in Week 4 (6:30), this speaks for an otherwise very decent defense.

In their other six games, which included a win over the highly regarded Baltimore Ravens, they allowed an average of just 17.2 points.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Strong red zone defense and turnover record

There are other reasons why the Steelers are winning their games without too much luster.

First of all, there is the defense in the red zone. Only 45.45 percent of all drives in which the opponents were in the last 20 yards before the end zone resulted in a touchdown. This is the seventh-best figure in the league. In the last three games, the figure was only 25 percent – first place in the NFL.

As is well known, turnovers are often the deciding factor between victory and defeat. The eight turnovers (6 interceptions, 2 fumbles) produced by the team are offset by 16 turnovers (8 interceptions, 8 fumbles). The turnover difference of +8 is the top value in the league, which is otherwise only achieved by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

When you also have difference-makers on defense – T.J. Watt ranks second in the NFL with 9.5 sacks – it may well be enough if quarterback Pickett improves only slightly from the previous season and simply plays solidly on the other side of the ball.

If they keep this up, the Steelers will be the surprise team of the season. “The Sky is the limit” “If we work and stick together, anything is possible.”

The days when nobody had the Steelers on their radar are probably over.