Madden Monday: Can Steelers fans start obsessing about Chiefs the same way they did with Patriots?
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It’s time to stop wondering “how” and time to start wondering “how many.”
In other words, forget how the Steelers managed to get to 9-0. Now let’s focus on how many in a row they will win before that streak is snapped.
It’s time to stop asking “when” and start asking “who.”
Like, forget asking when the Steelers are actually going to lose and start asking who could beat them.
The Ravens are now three games back (6-3) after a 23-17 loss to the New England Patriots Sunday night. The Buffalo Bills (7-3) blew a 14-point lead in Arizona. And on the NFC side, the Seattle Seahawks have lost three of four.
So is it too early for Steelers fans to start tracking the Kansas City Chiefs game-for-game as we used to so often do with the Patriots?
A non-divisional conference foe that we can obsess about week-in and week-out in a race for the playoff bye?
If a bye is still allowed to be won by the time January hits, of course.
Well, Mark Madden of “105.9 The X” tells us leveraging the Chiefs as a looming challenge is fine at this point.
“How can you complain about 9-0? I’m a radio talk show host, so I’m morally obligated to try,” Madden said in this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast.
To fulfill that obligation, Madden points to the Steelers’ inability to run the ball. That’s one thing to worry about should they see the Kansas City Chiefs in the postseason.
“They are going to need to run the ball to keep it out of Kansas City’s hands,” Madden said. “Don’t engage Kansas City in quick strikes back and forth because that’s a slippery slope for the Steelers to play Kansas City.”
As Madden points out, the Steelers only ran the ball 20 times — and threw it 46 times — in a game they never trailed. And when the Steelers tried to run, they didn’t do it particularly well, gaining only 44 yards.
Madden and I go in-depth on that topic, the reemergence of the Steelers special teams, Ben Roethlisberger’s fantastic return after a week on the covid-19 reserve list, and the current outlook for the AFC.
Plus, we delve into issues facing both college football and college basketball, the lack of hockey, and Ted Lasso on Apple TV.