PITTSBURGH — It's not impossible to win a Super Bowl with an offense that has trouble moving the football. Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are well aware of this fact.
In 2008, Tomlin won his only Super Bowl with the NFL's 22nd-ranked offense. The Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII behind one of the league's best all-time defenses.
The 2020 Steelers are taking a similar approach to winning games. They are 8-0 and leaning on a defense that ranks among the league's best in points and yards against.
The offense, meanwhile, is among the worst in the league. In fact, they would have to take great strides in the second half of the season just to get up to the No. 22 spot the 2008 team occupied.
The Steelers are 25th in total offense, averaging just 341 yards per game. Only the Broncos, Eagles, Dolphins, Bears, Washington, Giants and Jets get fewer yards per game.
The Steelers and their stalling offense have been lucky to remain unbeaten the past two weeks. They've erased two double-digit deficits on the road to eke out victories, something the franchise had not done in 67 years. They trailed the Ravens, 17-7, at halftime, and the Cowboys, 19-9, in the fourth quarter.
Anemic first-half offensive performances are to blame for getting behind in each of those games. Against the Ravens, the Steelers had just 64 yards at halftime, with the only points they scored coming via a Robert Spillane interception return for a touchdown. They ran 20 offensive plays and picked up five first downs, two of which came via penalties.
Against the Cowboys, the Steelers managed just 145 yards and nine points. All of the points came in the final 1:10 of the half. And 75 of those yards came on the only touchdown drive of the half, which started with 3:46 left in the second quarter.
The Steelers scored 21 points in the second half against the Ravens and totaled 157 yards in that comeback win. Against the Cowboys, they scored 15 points and amassed 210 yards in the second half to complete that comeback.
On each occasion, the Steelers went largely to five-receiver sets and an empty backfield. The matchups allowed Roethlisberger to dictate cover and pass protection, and the results were overwhelming positive for the offense.
"That's something that we could use to our advantage, instead of pulling it out in the second half," receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said. "Ben (Roethlisberger) draws plays in the dirt. It's something that he does. It's something that they can't stop because Ben knows what he wants, and at the end of the day, we get the job done."
So have the coaches given thought to going to five-wide personnel earlier?
"Yes and no," offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. "Sometimes the game circumstance dictates the flow of where you have to go. I'd like to be more balanced. We talk about it. We push for it. Sometimes it doesn't work itself in that direction, so you have to find out exactly where it fits. I think that's a good question. I'm not opposed to doing it earlier. It is things we do talk about."
Translation: Fichtner doesn't want the Steelers to become one-dimensional.
When the Steelers go empty, they are removing running back James Conner from the lineup and inserting receiver Ray-Ray McCloud. Fellow receivers Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and tight end Eric Ebron remain on the field, giving Roethlisberger a bevy of options with matchups across the board.
"It's a highly skilled group," Fichtner said. "Eric gives you some receiver-type of ability from a coverage standpoint. I think it could dictate certain types of coverages that you might not get based on that type of group. It could be either one of two things. It could eliminate certain protection-type issues that they are capable of doing in that, or potentially create some isolations and/or, in certain instances, it might even create zone when otherwise they might not choose to play you in zone in those situations.
"It's a unique group. It's a fast group. It's a fun group. When they are out there, it gives them a great opportunity to showcase their skills. Ben's done a nice job of keeping them all involved."
Sunday might just be the perfect time to try the grouping early. Roethlisberger is on the COVID list until Saturday and can't be around the team. Fichtner reiterated that he is planning to start Roethlisberger despite the missed practice time this week.
Having Roethlisberger come out and run the offense out of the empty set, or maybe even the no-huddle, could help the Steelers alleviate the problem of getting behind in games. If they are able to get ahead in games, that would lead to more favorable circumstances for the running game to get into gear, which has been front and center in the first-half struggles in recent weeks.
It also could help by taking some pressure off the defense, which has been on the field too much the past two weeks and showing some trouble spots.
"We couldn't (do anything) out there in the first half, and we got our defense out there tired," Ebron said. "We didn't give them a chance to recalibrate and figure things out. We just kept putting them back out there on the field. That's not a good look for us and that's not a good look for them. If our defense is out there, that means we're not doing anything. We have to figure out how to start faster. If we start faster, it will be better."
