PITTSBURGH — The Steelers sent a clear message to the rest of the AFC Sunday that they are indeed a legitimate contender for the conference title.

Given what it did to the Ravens' high-powered offense, the defense also sent a message that it's indeed in an elite category.

At times, the Steelers play an ugly brand of football, but there is nothing ugly about playing winning football. This group of Steelers plays winning football as well as any team I've seen wearing black and gold in a long, long time.

It isn't sexy to say they kick the ball better than anyone, punt as well as anyone or cover kicks as well as anyone, but that's winning football.

The Steelers don't turn the ball over very much, and sometimes they are accused of being too conservative, but that is winning football.

To be quite honest, the biggest difference between the Steelers and Ravens is that only one of those two teams doesn't beat itself and thus plays winning football. I keep hearing all these comparisons about the Ravens and Steelers, but there really is no comparison at all in my mind.

It isn't a coincidence that the Steelers are 8-1 in their last nine games against the Ravens, and given how both teams play, this trend will continue.

The Ravens are among the dumbest, most self-destructive teams I have seen. It is a testament to just how much talent they have and just how dynamic Lamar Jackson can be that they manage to win as many games as they do. The Steelers won the turnover margin by two, they made field goals when they had chances to make field goals, they didn't take silly chances that led to disaster like the Ravens did right before the half.

John Harbaugh is lauded for his use of analytics and aggressive nature, but these qualities lead him to make bad decisions that cause trouble for the Ravens. He could actually learn a lot from his brother, Jim, who is meat and potatoes and whose teams are sometimes accused of being boring.

But Jim Harbaugh's teams don't generally beat themselves, while John Harbaugh's teams make a habit of it. Nobody would suggest the Chargers have more or even as much talent as the Ravens, yet if the playoffs began today, the Chargers would be seeded ahead of the Ravens. And that's again because Jim Harbaugh's teams play winning football, and John Harbaugh's teams don't.

One of the worst-kept secrets of Mike Tomlin's "never had a losing season" streak is that, in general, his teams don't beat themselves. Oh sure, there are games you can point to here and there because these guys aren't robots, and there will be ups and downs. But over the long haul, the Steelers don't beat themselves and capitalize when other teams make mistakes.

Tomlin's teams play together; they play with the sole purpose of winning every game they play, and they understand that if they don't make critical mistakes that put them in bad positions, they will have a chance to win. In some ways, it is old-school football, that idea that any drive that ends in a kick is a good one.

In the environment of the NFL, where all these boy genius coaches want to go for it on fourth down rather than take a field goal, Tomlin still understands the value of scoring points and is willing to kick. Sunday, if he had decided to go for it on fourth more than the one time he did, it is likely the Steelers would have lost because they needed every one of Chris Boswell's six field goals to win.

Obviously, you would rather score touchdowns, but being willing to take points when they are available is a great way to play winning football. Running the football to shorten the game a little bit and give your defense some extra rest is stone-age thinking in today's NFL, but it works for the Steelers.

It works because they are comfortable playing close games and even more comfortable winning close games. That's why Tomlin has the highest winning percentage in one-score games of any coach in modern NFL history. The Steelers are 5-2 in those games this year, and they are likely to play a bunch more of those games down the stretch.

There is some school of thought that the Steelers might not be equipped to win a game against the Chiefs or Bills in the playoffs, but for the first time in a long time, I don't think that's the case. I am not saying they will beat either of those teams, but the Steelers should be mentioned in the same sentence as those two as the teams to beat in the AFC.

That's especially true when you look at the rest of the field and realize the AFC is basically a three-team race. I think the Ravens have the talent to be mentioned in that top group, but their dumb brand of football will hold them back.

The Texans were everyone's flavor of the month at the start of the season based on what they did last year, but they have had some major injuries that have made them a lot less scary. The Chargers and Broncos have improved from when the Steelers played them, no doubt, but neither of those teams is ready to win this year, and the fact is that the Steelers beat them both.

That's why this should be the season the Steelers break their long streak of playoff futility and get to the second weekend of the playoffs with a chance to advance even further. Russell Wilson has improved the passing game enough that they can win even if the defense is not on its game. However, the biggest thing about this group is that they are fundamentally pretty solid.

You don't get awards for winning the kicking game or things like the turnover margin, but you will win a lot of football games. The Steelers have used that formula to get to 8-2 and put themselves in the conversation among the best teams in the NFL.

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