The Steelers had extremely high expectations going into the season, but going into their week 7 bye week, they have shown that it may be more of a roller coaster of a season than most people expected.

Going into the season, many experts, fans, and players were predicting the Steelers to have an extremely strong start, and they were even saying how the team had a shot to be undefeated going into their bye week. They had a rather easy schedule going into the season, and with a healthy team and some new defensive additions, the team looked like one of the top teams in the AFC.

The season obviously has not started as the team has planned.

It all started before Week 1, when star running back Le’veon Bell surprisingly decided to not show up for practice, and decided to extend his holdout into the season. That week, the team ended up tying the sub-par Cleveland Browns.

Since then, the team has been 3-2, with an embarrassing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and a tough loss to division rival the Baltimore Ravens.

The team’s 3-2-1 record might not look too bad, but some of the struggles the team has faced could really hurt them down the stretch.

One aspect in the game which they have struggled is discipline. The team leads the league in penalties and penalty yards. This stat is more alarming than a normal fan might think, because when penalties are this extreme, it becomes a coaching and disciplinary issue, rather than just not playing intelligently.

Another area that needs improvement is defense. The Steelers were the worst-ranked defense through the first four games of the year. They have played rather well the last two weeks, but if they get back to the way they played the first four games, they would put themselves in a lot of trouble.

Overall, the team hasn’t been as dominant as fans first thought they were going to be. The team needs to make major improvements on these weaknesses if they want a chance to reach their initial expectations of a division championship and contending for a Super Bowl championship.