Forget the 8-3 record. The Steelers lost their last game, so according to the majority of fan and media sentiment, Pittsburgh was exposed in Cleveland to be pretenders and not contenders.

The reasons to have expected a loss last Thursday have been well documented by now, and there’s no point in rehashing it. Inside the building, the focus has to be on December football and the team needs to have blinders on to outside sentiment. The emotions of fans swing wildly from drive to drive, much less wins and losses, and the talking heads will never give the team their due without a true franchise QB on the roster. What matters now is how they respond.

December means the time has passed to figure out the team identity and what the philosophy should be. One look at the tape from last Thursday will show the game was lost at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The Steelers need to prove to themselves that they are the physical team capable of dominating the trenches, a point they have been focused on since mini-camp.

The Bengals average giving up 146 rushing yards a game, fifth worst in the league. They have been playing a single high safety look to help out their rush defense. DT Sheldon Rankins has been ruled out, and rookies Kris Jenkins Jr and McKinnley Jackson will be getting extensive playing time on the line. The Steelers offensive line must come out and own the line of scrimmage in this game and force the Bengals to commit extra men in the box. Then Pittsburgh must take advantage of play action and use the tight ends in the middle of the field for big downfield plays like they did last year in their first Canada-less game.

The Bengals secondary is in flux right now. DJ Turner is out for the year now after surgery to repair a broken clavicle. Dax Hill, who beat out Turner for the starting spot, has been out after tearing his ACL in week five. Cam Taylor-Britt, who started the season considered as their best DB, was benched last week in favor of rookie Josh Newton. Now Taylor-Britt and the rookie Newton will be on the field together as starters out of necessity and not from merit.

If the Steelers come out and attack the line of scrimmage and establish a dominating run game, force that extra safety into the box, then they can take advantage of this struggling backfield unit with deep moonball shots and play-action crossers. This is the offense the team has been promising since day one, and now is the time to show up and prove they can do it.

On defense, QB pressure is going to be a must have to give the back-end any chance of slowing down the Bengals passing attack. Everyone and their mother knows TJ Watt is going to be double-teamed and chipped on every down. The rest of the D-line and the pass rushers must step up and make plays on a more consistent basis. LT Orlando Brown Jr could possibly play this game, but he is dealing with a leg injury and will not be at his best. This game could come down to whether or not the defense wins their battle at the line and makes Joe Burrow uncomfortable in the pocket. Scheme and a big dose of “want to” needs to show improvement against the Bengals.

Despite the doom and gloom, this is not a must win, but it would go a long way to setting a tone for the remaining schedule. True contenders go on the road in December and win in the cold by being the more physical team, and that’s what Pittsburgh has said they strive to be. That starts and ends on the line on both sides of the ball, and the time for finding themselves is over. Forget what the fans think, or the talking heads say. This coaching staff and the players need to go out and prove to themselves that the Thursday night game was an anomaly, and the lessons have been learned. There are no more surprises left. Cold weather ball comes down to execution and who wants it more in the trenches. Beating Cincinnati will be no easy task, but it will tell the team exactly who they are going into the final push to the playoffs.