Considering the shellacking the Steelers received at the hands of the Houston Texans last week, it’s insanely hard to believe that Pittsburgh is 2-2 entering Week 5 of the NFL.

Equally, if not more so, it’s ridiculous that the Steelers can lead the AFC North with a win at home this Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens, the division’s current leader, sit at 3-1, but if they lose to the Steelers, would be conceding a tiebreaker of head-to-head play, thus handing the lead over to Pittsburgh.

This is a massive game for the Steelers, for so many reasons, but above all else, as a response game. How can the Steelers respond to the absolute embarrassment they suffered in Houston?

The Ravens make redemption no easy effort this week, which is good, because according to Mike Tomlin, the Steelers didn’t lose because of bad coaching, they just got physically beat. Perhaps padded practice and the hard-nosed Ravens squad will straighten up the Steelers.

Headlined by quarterback Lamar Jackson, the Ravens offense is going to look to run the ball against a very flimsy rush defense that the Steelers present. The Steelers had a massive amount of trouble last week stopping the run, surrendering 139 rush yards to the Texans.

Jackson, and his elusive abilities as a runner, are going to pose a serious threat to Pittsburgh’s defense, as they often have done when the Steelers play him.

But the Steelers historically have been able to bottle up Lamar Jackson. He has a completion percentage of just 59.57% in 5 games against the Steelers over his career. His passer rating sits at an abysmal 67.4, and Jackson has only 4 touchdowns to 6 interceptions against Pittsburgh. Overall, Jackson is 2-3 against the Steelers over his career.

On the other side of the ball, there seems to be a growing consensus that Kenny Pickett, injured in Week 4 with what turned out to be a bone bruise, is going to play against Baltimore.

That decision is the wrong one to make, for several reasons that I won’t waste space getting into in this article, but you can find here.

We don’t have a ton of knowledge on how Pickett against the Ravens could go. Last year in his rookie season, he only played in one full game, leaving Week 14 very early after sustaining a concussion,

Pickett engineered that game-winning drive last year in Week 17 in Baltimore against the Ravens that ended with a touchdown pass to Najee Harris. In that drive, he looked lights out, and did what he needed to in order for his team to win.

In that game as a whole, Pickett went 15/27 for 168 yards and a single touchdown. Modest totals, but he made plays when needed to and got out of there with a win.

But that was rookie Pickett, and sophomore Pickett has looked BAD so far this season.

Toss in a knee injury that won’t be fully 100% and you might be setting Kenny up to get killed on Sunday.

But of course, he’s not the only prominent man on the offensive side of the ball who will have all eyes on him. Matt Canada’s offense is going to need a huge game on Sunday, which I think it’s safe to say none of us are expecting.

Look, I don’t believe that there’s any real chance that the Steelers fire Canada mid-season, but, if there is, it’s going to be during the bye next week. If there’s any chance of it happening, that means this could be Canada’s last game.

His horrible scheming and predictable play calls could be doing their farewell tour on the grass at Acrisure Stadium as the Steelers try and pry the division lead from Baltimore’s hands.

But the defense needs a close examining as well. After letting a first year head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterback do whatever they wanted with ease against them, the Steelers defense has a lot of questions to answer.

Levi Wallace and Patrick Peterson had miserable days last week. TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith were invisible. The run defense crumbled, and the pass defense bowed down to Stroud.

There’s a lot riding on this game. Despite how awful the Steelers have been for a majority of the season, they are playing for the division on Sunday. Falling two games behind of the Ravens is a hole they probably can’t get out of (unless Jackson goes down late in the season, like the last two years).

Unfortunately, I think we all see it coming, right? The Steelers are gonna win this game by some close score, one that makes it a one-possession game, and there won’t be any changes. The offense will make one or two splash plays, win the game, and ultimately save Canada’s job. It’s the classic win the battle, lose the war scenario.

(Featured photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)