Jordan DeFigio, @fidgenewton
SteelerNation.com
All right, so what's it going to take?
What will it take for the Pittsburgh Steelers to erase the question mark that follows their name and claim their stake in the conversation of serious contenders?
They may be number 2 yet again in the power rankings, but it doesn't come without speculation.
Sure. Their win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday was absolutely hideous. They trailed for most of the game and looked dazed, confused, and slow for the entirety of the first half.
But there's something to be said for a team that wins games despite looking like a pile of dirty sweatshirts for 90% of them.
With a quarterback playing through knee injuries, no less.
Ben Roethlisberger may not be Patrick Mahomes (no one is, and the Kansas City Chiefs are still sitting at no. 1 in the power rankings), but in the Chiefs' and Steelers' games on Sunday, both quarterbacks put up similar numbers. Mahomes threw for 372 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Roethlisberger threw for 306 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Did I mention he was hurt?
The Chiefs battled it out with the Carolina Panthers and barely squeaked out a win. Some might call it an ugly win, too. The Panthers might not be as bad as the Cowboys, but they're certainly not that far ahead.
And despite the Steelers maintaining their place in the power rankings, the majority of analysts still question whether or not this is a team that can win it all - whether the Steelers are the team to beat in the AFC, let alone the NFL.
They question how important Roethlisberger has actually been for the Steelers (ESPN writer Bill Barnwell led that charge). They question how long the Steelers' success will last. They question if this team is the real deal, moving briskly along to name the Chiefs the team to beat.
Perhaps they are. At 8-1 with a guy like Mahomes at QB, they have proven difficult to beat.
But an undefeated record alone should proclaim a team the "one to beat."
How many more wins (convincing ones, I suppose) will it take for people to take them a little more seriously?
#SteelerNation
