Steelers haven’t always looked good during their 3-1 start. They also don’t care

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin isn’t much on aesthetics.

The Pittsburgh Steelers coach knows his team hasn’t played particularly well over the first month of the season.

The offense remains a work in progress behind Aaron Rodgers, who has played steadily if not spectacularly. The defense is banged up and uncharacteristically gettable as a result.

Yet as the team flew back across the Atlantic on Sunday night following a closer-than-it-had-to-be 24-21 victory over Minnesota in the first regular-season game in Dublin, Ireland, Pittsburgh found itself atop an AFC North that doesn’t look as formidable as it did four weeks ago.

Cincinnati will be without Joe Burrow indefinitely. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens are reeling. Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns have yet to reach 20 points in a game.

So forgive Tomlin if he isn’t getting worked up over the fact that his first-place team hasn’t always looked the part.

“We’re 3-1, and that’s all that matters,” Tomlin said. “Would I like to be 4-0? Certainly. But we are what we are. I’ve learned not to kid myself. You are what your record says you are. So that’s what we are going into the bye, and I can take it.”

Tomlin talks frequently about the growth mindset that’s vital to the opening weeks of a given season. Teams don’t begin the season as finished products, particularly not ones that spent the spring and summer overhauling the roster the way the Steelers did.

What Tomlin wants to see above all else in September is progress, hopeful that the results will follow. And there were signs in front of the sea of twirling Terrible Towels at Croke Park that the club Tomlin, general manager Omar Khan and assistant general manager Andy Weidl assembled may be starting to figure things out.

DK Metcalf, held largely in check over the first three games, posted season highs in catches (five) and yards (126), including an 80-yard catch-and-run for a score that showcased the combination of strength and breakaway speed that attracted Pittsburgh to him in the first place.

The offensive line struggled to create running room over the first three games. The solution was to utilize reserve Spencer Anderson as a sixth lineman in certain packages and keep massive tight end Darnell Washington in to open up holes for Kenny Gainwell, who piled up a season-high 99 yards and scored twice against one of the league’s better defenses.

The defense continues to give up yards in chunks, but has also created the kind of “splash” that Tomlin so openly covets. A week after producing five turnovers in a road victory at New England, the Steelers followed it up by sacking Minnesota’s Carson Wentz six times and forcing him into a pair of interceptions.

“We’re getting there,” said defensive lineman Cam Heyward, who deflected a pass that turned into a pick for a third straight week. “We’re getting there. Week 4, we are not done, and we’ve got a lot of room to improve. I like the way we’re trending.”

It’s tempting coming out of a game in the Emerald Isle to say the Steelers have been blessed by a little bit of “luck of the Irish.”

Yet going two-plus decades without a losing season isn’t luck. Neither is being in the playoff chase far more often than not, even if the only place Pittsburgh consistently looks pretty is in the win column.

What’s working

Drafting linebackers from Wisconsin. The Steelers found a star in perennial All-Pro T.J. Watt near the end of the first round in 2017. In 2023, they used a fourth-round pick to select Nick Herbig, who led the Big Ten in sacks during his final year with the Badgers.

Early in his third season, Herbig appears ready to take flight. He’s been a force after missing the opener with a hamstring injury, racking up 2 1/2 sacks to go with an interception and eight quarterback hits while looking every bit the part of the next great outside linebacker for a franchise whose history is dotted with some of the best players ever at the position.

What needs help

The ability to protect a lead without drama. A week after letting an early 14-point lead evaporate against New England (though they eventually recovered), the Steelers made things way more interesting than was necessary late.

Stock up

Inside linebacker Peyton Wilson labeled himself “one of the best in the world” entering his training camp but spent the first three weeks looking far from it. Yet his No. 41 was regularly visible against the Vikings, nevermore so than when he chased down Minnesota’s Jordan Addison at the end of a long catch-and-run late in the fourth quarter. The tackle forced the Vikings to burn valuable time before scoring.

Stock down

The travel schedule. The Steelers didn’t leave for Dublin until late Thursday night and spent all of 2 1/2 days in Ireland. Shorter trips have become the norm now that international games have become more common, but perhaps there should have been an exception for the first regular-season game in Ireland, particularly considering the club’s close ties to the country.

Injuries

RB Jaylen Warren was a late scratch against the Vikings because of a knee injury. CB Joey Porter missed his third straight game with a hamstring injury. LB Alex Highsmith didn’t even make the trip overseas because of a sprained ankle. S Jalen Ramsey is dealing with a hamstring problem. WR Calvin Austin left early with a shoulder injury that could be serious.

Key number

91 — career completions of 50 yards or more by Rodgers, breaking a tie with Drew Brees for most in NFL history.

Next steps

Take the weekend off before heading into the brunt of their schedule, starting with a meeting with Cleveland at Acrisure Stadium on Oct. 12.

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