Unbeaten Steelers focused on the end goal, not 16-0

Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t want to get into the comparison game. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback doesn’t see the point.

So while the wins keep piling up — the latest a drama-free 27-3 victory over Jacksonville on Sunday that pushed Pittsburgh to 10-0 — Roethlisberger remains intent on making sure his team stays focused on the little picture, not the big one.

So save the talk about the 1972 Dolphins or even, say, the 2008 Steelers for elsewhere. Roethlisberger is too worried about facing rival Baltimore on Thanksgiving to contemplate where his current group fits in historically.

“As long as we win football games, we don’t need to compare ourselves to anybody else, offensively, defensively, any other team or anything like that,” Roethlisberger said. “We feel like we’re our own unique team and that we’re special in who we are, so we just want to win and do everything we can to win a Super Bowl.”

And that — as it has largely been since Roethlisberger’s rookie season in 2004 — remains the ultimate litmus test on how 2020 will be judged. The Steelers keep reminding anyone who will listen that they haven’t done anything yet. They haven’t clinched a playoff berth. Or a division title. Or home-field advantage throughout the post-season.

All these Ws they’ve racked up will serve as a mere footnote in history if their final game doesn’t end with them standing amid a sea of confetti in Tampa Bay after capturing the franchise’s seventh Super Bowl title.

The rest of it? A chance at going 16-0, Roethlisberger’s long-time-coming entry into the Most Valuable Player conversation and a defence showing hallmarks of rivaling the 2008 championship group, all of that is just outside noise.