Nov 25, 2002 By Commentary Mike Ciarochi 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – What’s wrong with the Steelers’ third-down defense? “I wish I knew,” Steelers coach Bill Cowher said in the moments after his team’s shaky 29-21 win over Cincinnati Sunday at Heinz Field.

This is, after all, basically the same team that led the league in total defense a year ago and they are playing mostly the same schemes with the same personnel groupings. Sunday, it looked like the same group that allowed Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna to throw for over 400 yards in a Bengals win here just about a year ago.

Pittsburgh “limited” Kitna to 298 passing yards this time, but the Bengals managed 352 total yards against a Steelers defense that can’t seem to find the sidelines these days, let alone get there after third down. Cincinnati amassed those yards at least partially by converting 7-of-15 third-down opportunities, an incredible 47 percent success rate.

Defensive coordinator Tim Lewis was asked the same question as his boss and after wise-cracking the same “I wish I knew” answer, Lewis at least put Pittsburgh’s problems in perspective. He didn’t solve them, but he put them in perspective and, in a round about way, gave some of the credit back to the Bengals.

“Every year is different,” Lewis said. “We have many of the same players, but you can’t say that the chemistry is the same, and the calls are different. New England and Oakland opened a can of worms in our first two games. They exposed some of the blitzes we used and we can’t use them now.”

So, what do the Steelers do now? It was the Bengals who really exposed Pittsburgh’s defense late last season and the Patriots and Raiders simply studied film and found the flaws they could exploit. Still, Pittsburgh is 6-4-1 heading to Jacksonville next Sunday.

That game also marks the beginning of the stretch run for playoff-caliber teams. Over the next five Sundays, we’ll find out whether the Steelers truly deserve to be in the playoffs or whether they will go simply for being the best team in a very bad division.

The offense seems to be hitting on most of its cylinders. Kordell Stewart passed for 236 yards in relief of Tommy Maddox and the running game churned out 156 yards, even if half of them came from Stewart and Hines Ward. Jerome Bettis ran for 79 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his heaviest workload since a knee injury shelved him several weeks ago.

But can this defense rebound to take the Steelers where they want to go? Nobody knows for sure, least of all Lewis, the man charged with righting the ship.

“You have to recreate what you do best,” Lewis said. “Because people have done different things to you, you have to change.”

There were some changes in this game, but not the kind to which Lewis referred. As Cowher pointed out, “It wasn’t the same personnel out there today because we had some injuries. We had to change a couple of guys around. At times, we got a little bit out of position.”

Bottom line, though, the Steelers managed to win a game they needed to win. Strange as it sounds, the Steelers needed this win to maintain their half-game lead over Cleveland in this putrid division. Most observers, myself included, thought the Steelers would have this division wrapped up by now or at least be well on their way to doing so.

Now, they must scratch and claw and fight for everything they can get between now and the end of December. The schedule is fairly soft, but there are two trips to Florida that could spell doom for Pittsburgh. Next week, the Steelers visit Jacksonville in what shapes up as a very winable game. You can’t say the same about a Monday, Dec. 23 game at Tampa Bay.

Cleveland and Baltimore, which is only a game back of the Browns, are not being outclassed by the Steelers. They are hanging with them.

Ironically, Pittsburgh’s only remaining division game could be for all the marbles. Pittsburgh hosts Baltimore in the last regular season game.

It will be the last game period for one of them.

If Pittsburgh’s defense doesn’t wake up and smell the coffee, the Steelers could be on the outside looking in.

Sports editor Mike Ciarochi may be reached at mciarochi@heraldstandard.com.