The Steelers play mediocre football week in and week out. The only difference for them is what the other team offers in terms of performance.

One week after another mediocre showing that was only deemed more successful because it included a rare 400-yard performance by the offense, the Steelers played pretty much the same way in a 24-10 loss to lowly Arizona at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Although, it’s hard to refer to the Cardinals as lowly compared to the Steelers despite coming into the day with a 2-10 record. I also think it’s foolish to refer to any opponent of Pittsburgh as “lesser” in 2023.

The loss dropped the Steelers record to 7-5 on the year. They still have a great chance of making the playoffs, but so what? It’s always nice to make the postseason because of the whole “Any Given Sunday” nature of football. However, as has already been stated, the Steelers play the same brand of football each and every week throughout the regular season. They keep it close. They keep it ugly. And they hope that the other team messes up more than them. Therefore, why would a postseason game be any different? I’ll tell you how it would be different: The Steelers would likely be facing a postseason opponent with a much better quarterback and a much better overall roster, complete with a much better coaching staff.

That caliber of a team usually doesn’t make more mistakes than the mediocre ones do.

And I’m not convinced that Pittsburgh is even mediocre at this point.

The Steelers produced enough evidence on their initial drive of the game on Sunday to convince everyone that their offense could continue to evolve from the improvements that were evident in the 16-10 victory over Cincinnati the week before.

No, that drive didn’t end in six–it ended with a Chris Boswell field goal–but gosh darn it, that dam was going to break any drive now.

It looked like it was about to burst wide open late in the second quarter, only for quarterback Kenny Pickett to suffer a game-ending ankle injury while trying to scramble for a touchdown on third and goal. The Steelers attempted to go for it on fourth and goal from the one, but running back Najee Harris was denied.

Yikes.

You just had a bad feeling that something else was going to burst, and it was Pittsburgh’s bubble. The Cardinals took over and drove 99 yards to take a 10-3 halftime lead on a touchdown pass from quarterback Kyler Murray to tight end Trey McBride.

I’m not being overly dramatic when I tell you that the game felt over at that point. It certainly didn’t seem like it was going to be the easy day that many had envisioned going in.

The Steelers simply don’t have the talent and attitude to have an easy day against anyone.

The dam did finally burst, well, not really, but the heavy rains began to fall near the end of the second quarter, which caused an extended halftime break.

Did you have any confidence that the Steelers would win at that point? Maybe you did. Perhaps you thought they’d pull their usual late-game heroics, only with backup Mitch Trubisky doing the honors at quarterback.

It just wasn’t meant to be.

What we got instead was yet another half-assed shotgun snap from center Mason Cole, one that Trubisky failed to handle. The Cardinals handled it and eventually went up by two touchdowns midway through the third quarter.

More rain came. Another delay ensued. This allowed many Steelers fans to argue about stuff on Twitter. Like, for example, why was Pickett able to handle Cole’s multiple bad snaps, yet, Trubisky could not?

Damn that Trubisky. Anyway, when your center is so bad at snapping the football in the shotgun formation that it causes the fans to get into arguments over which quarterback handled it better, that’s a sign that you’re having a horrible day at the office.

Why even have debates over this team at this point? It’s just not worth your mental health, nor is it deserving of the energy you’re putting into arguing with others over it.

The Steelers simply look like a bad football team from top to bottom. They certainly looked like a squad that had given up by the end of the second rain delay on Sunday.

Heck, even Boswell missed a field goal from 45 yards away in the third quarter.

You throw in the penalties, the injuries–in addition to Pickett, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Elandon Roberts, T.J. Watt and Isaac Seumalo all suffered injuries of varying degrees–and the overall low-energy feel of the players, and Sunday was about as ugly as things have been for the Steelers in 2023…and that’s saying a lot.

The Steelers went into the final period with one score in their pocket. How many times have we seen that this year? How many times have we seen that in recent years?

Matt Canada has been gone for two practice weeks and two games, yet, the offense has produced two touchdowns and a total of 26 points.

It’s not just the offensive coordinator. It’s the offensive players.

The defense can be good at times, but it certainly wasn’t all that great after Roberts left in the second quarter on Sunday. Roberts was the last remaining player from the trio of inside linebackers that Omar Khan accrued this past offseason.

The Cardinals took a 24-3 lead midway through the fourth quarter on running back James Conner’s second touchdown of the day, but I was too busy working out at LA Fitness to give a damn about it at that point.

Diontae Johnson celebrated a touchdown catch he made in garbage time, an act that will surely give folks something to take out their frustrations on while not truly acknowledging that their favorite football team simply doesn’t have the right stuff–garbage touchdown celebrations or no garbage touchdown celebrations.

The Steelers will now take on the Patriots this Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium, and they will play mostly the same way.

It doesn’t matter that New England, like the Cardinals, is coming to town as a two-win team. These 2023 Steelers could very easily be a two-win team in their own right.

The Steelers will keep it close. They will keep it ugly. And they will hope the Patriots make more mistakes than them.

Thursday night’s game between the 7-5 Steelers and the 2-10 Patriots feels like a toss-up, which should tell you all you need to know about the 7-5 Steelers.