Steelers face a tough road with even tougher questions

By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Coach Mike Tomlin has talked about developing his team's identity through the years, and one game short of the halfway point of the 2013 season, the Steelers seem to have found one.

Their identity is they have no identity. They might know what they want to be by Halloween, but they do not know how to dress for the occasion.

Not only their 2-5 record identifies what they are, but so does their play. They are a team that cannot run and cannot stop the run, even by quarterbacks. They cannot sack opposing quarterbacks and cannot protect their own. They give up too many big plays on defense and develop too few on offense. They cannot win on the road and have won just one of three at home.

How's that for an identity?

Here's another of the bottom-line variety: Only one team has a worse record in the AFC, and that is winless Jacksonville.

They must play Sunday in New England, where the 6-2 Patriots* gleefully await in a place where the Steelers historically have had few successes, none when the quarterback has been Tom Brady.

READ MORE: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2013/10/29/HARD-TIMES-HARDER-ANSWERS/stories/201310290096