Jan 8, 2017 5 min read

PITTSBURGH – This was what the Steelers had dreamed about for the past three seasons.

There was Ben Roethlisberger completing passes at will to wide receiver Antonio Brown to build an early lead Sunday.

There was Le’Veon Bell imposing his will on the Miami Dolphins the rest of the way as he made several stop-and-start runs that made him look as if he were auditioning for a starring role in the next sequel to the movie, “The Matrix.”

There was the defense, making big plays at critical times, forcing fumbles, intercepting passes and generally playing off of everything the offense did.

But for the Steelers, it wasn’t a perfect game by any stretch.

“I think we can be better,” said Roethlisberger, who completed his first 11 passes for 188 yards and two scores before being intercepted on his 12th.

“I think it’s a little bit of a false positive, if you will, because you start so well.”

The Steelers did. And they rode that fast start to a dominating 30-12 victory in an AFC Wild Card game.

They won’t have the luxury of taking their foot off the pedal next week in Kansas City.

The deeper you advance into the postseason, the more a mistake is magnified.

After that hot start, Roethlisberger completed just two of his final seven passes with two interceptions. Worse still, he suffered a slight ankle sprain late in the game when he should have just been handing the football to backup running back DeAngelo Williams.

“I’ll be out there next week,” Roethlisberger vowed, despite being in a walking boot.

That’s fine. But in this game, it just wasn’t worth having Roethlisberger on the field when that injury occurred with five minutes remaining.

In that respect, head coach Mike Tomlin dodged a pretty big bullet.

After all, we’ve seen what the offense has looked like in Pittsburgh’s previous two playoff appearances when Bell and Brown have missed games.

It certainly makes things, as Tomlin said last week, a lot less fun.

This one was fun because Brown and Bell made it their playground.

Brown had three catches for a 119 yards and two scores in the first eight minutes, turning a short screen into a 50-yard catch-and-run touchdown on Pittsburgh’s first drive and catching a post for a 62-yard run down the middle of the field for another score on the second possession.

Brown’s receiving yardage total was a team record for the opening quarter of a playoff game, and he became the first player in team history to catch two first-quarter touchdown passes in a postseason game.

But Brown also had a couple of uncharateristic drops, one that was turned into an interception.

The only Steelers star who seemingly didn’t make any mistakes to go along with his other outstanding plays was Bell.

Bell took over on Pittsburgh’s third offensive series. He carried the ball 10 times for 78 yards on an 83-yard touchdown drive. The only yards not gained by Bell came on an offside penalty. He finished the game with a team-record 167 rushing yards on 29 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns. Not bad for a guy playing in his first postseason game.

“That’s how it’s done,” Bell said as he walked into the locker room following the game.

He admitted to being humbled by breaking the record.

“It kind of blew me away,” Bell said. “It’s a great achievement. It goes to show you how good this team has been. The offensive line has gotten better over the course of the year. We’re getting there and it’s really showing.”

The Steelers are “getting there,” but they aren’t quite there yet.

This was a big win. And that they made it through relatively unscatched was nice.

But much like the Steelers wanted to exact some revenge for their 30-15 loss at Miami in Week 6, you can bet the Kansas City coaching staff has been hammering home the fact the Steelers manhandled the Chiefs in Pittsburgh, 43-14, in Week 4.

“Kansas City is going to come in with that same mindset,” said Bell. “We have to understand that. We have to understand that same passion and dedication that we put in this week to beat Miami, that is how Kansas City is going to try to beat us.”

That the Steelers know that is the first step. Now, they need to put together a better performance against the Chiefs if they hope to advance to the AFC Championship.

As we saw Sunday, the Steelers are capable of great things. But, as we also saw at times this season – particularly on the road – they can make some head-scratching mistakes.

“It will be addressed this week,” said Roethlisberger. “I wouldn’t say addressed, because that sounds too harsh. But we will talk about it.

“It’s the little things. I mentioned before this game, the ‘my bads,’ are not usually good. You can’t usually correct ‘my bads.’ You can’t have them. It’s just the way it is in the postseason.”

Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.