The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense has done a lot of things very well this year, but not much went right last Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals defense held the Steelers to only 3.6 yards per play offensively. Consider that the Steelers offense had been averaging 6.4 yards per play coming into the game. For the Steeler ‘O’, this is akin to going from the penthouse to the outhouse in short order.

So, while we should not forget the many positives we have seen this year from this group, let’s take a look at two areas where the Pittsburgh offense must improve.

Hall of Fame quarterback-turned-NFL analyst Terry Bradshaw said after Sunday’s game that he felt the Steelers didn’t have an identity on offense.

I disagree.

The Steelers identity offensively is Ben Roethlisberger. Teams specifically game plan to stop Big Ben, and rarely succeed like the Bengals did on Sunday.

They made the offense look beaten and bewildered throughout the game.

The Bengals’ cornerbacks prevented the Steelers receivers from getting much separation, while their defensive front did not allow Roethlisberger to escape the pocket to buy extra time for his targets to break free.

The Bengals defense took away the deep 20-25 yard strikes, and it was clear that the Steelers did not respect their ability to do so. After all, Roethlisberger had averaged 8.9 yards per pass attempt in the first go-around between these teams in September. He averaged only 4.4 yards per attempt on Sunday.

Cincinnati also did a tremendous job in limiting running back Rashard Mendenhall to only 2.8 yards per rush.

The problem isn’t an identity crisis. The Steelers are a pass-first team that were taken out of their rhythm by the Bengals, and were unable to find it during the course of the contest.

Not every pass can be a 20-yard completion, especially against corners like Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall.  That tandem appears to be on the verge of becoming a top-notch unit.

Complicating the problem, the Steelers rank dead last in the NFL with the fewest passes to running backs.

This cannot continue if they plan to continue throwing the ball 40 times per contest. Great passing teams like the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots involve their running backs in pass receiving throughout the game. Even the great San Francisco 49er teams of the 1980s made a living throwing 5-yard passes to Roger Craig.

The Steelers began the game against Cincinnati by throwing a few quick passes out to the flat to the wide receivers, but they got away from that facet of their game as the afternoon progressed. These types of check-down passes to wide outs, as well as to running backs, frequently help keep an offense out of third-down-and-long situations and help keep an offense in a nice rhythm.

Despite the importance of the check-down, Roethlisberger loves to go downfield to his receivers. How can you argue with his success?

But, as Yahoo! Sports columnist Jason Cole told me, Ben might be making things too hard for himself, especially when he plays against a secondary that can match up with his receivers.

Roethlisberger is a much more cerebral quarterback than he is given credit for. He’s also a winner. He will make some adjustments, and the Steelers will be better for it going forward.

The other issue with the offense is one for which there may not be a quick cure.