It took the Pittsburgh Steelers three weeks to earn their first win this season.

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They will need better results over the next three weeks in order to get their season on track, beginning against the division rival Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football.

Pittsburgh has one of the league’s most difficult schedules the rest of the way.

The Steelers will host the Ravens and Atlanta Falcons the next two Sundays, and then visit the Cincinnati Bengals before a bye in Week 7. They will need to win two of three just to guarantee a .500 record heading in to the second half of the season.

Consistency will be the key for Pittsburgh moving forward. While the Steelers have shown flashes of their potential in each of the past three weeks, lapses in all three phases have resulted in a 1-1-1 record.

The biggest concern is a defence that ranks 28th in the NFL with an average of 30.0 points allowed per game. Over the last two weeks, Pittsburgh has conceded an average of 452.0 yards and 34.5 points to the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Steelers survived a late push by Tampa Bay, but that was in large part thanks to another solid performance by the offence and four turnovers forced by the defence.

It’s unrealistic to expect an opposing quarterback to throw interceptions on three consecutive pass attempts the way that Ryan Fitzpatrick did in the second quarter of last week’s win. Head coach Mike Tomlin, defensive coordinator Keith Butler and their staff must figure out a more sustainable approach to slowing down opposing offences.

Pittsburgh won’t have a top-10 defence like they did a year ago. However, to be a playoff contender they will need to be better than they have been through the first three weeks of the season.

The outlook is a lot more positive for the Steelers offence, even without star running back Le’Veon Bell in the lineup.

Wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster leads the AFC with 356 yards from scrimmage. Running back James Conner is second on that list with 352 yards. As wide receiver Antonio Brown continues to see double teams from opposing defences, Pittsburgh will need Smith-Schuster and Conner to remain healthy and perform at a high level in order to rank among the best offences in the league, even without Bell.

The Steelers will likely try to build off their blueprint for last week’s success against the Buccaneers with a similar game plan Sunday night. Pittsburgh relied heavily on a short passing attack to get the football in the hands of its best players and allow them to make plays. Ben Roethlisberger averaged just 6.2 air yards per attempt. He completed 78.9 per cent of his attempts for 353 yards and three touchdowns. The Steelers receivers finished the game with 221 yards after the catch. They have registered a league-best 703 yards after the catch this season. In the last meeting between these teams, Roethlisberger completed 44-of-66 pass attempts for 506 yards.

The 44 completions were the second-highest single-game total in NFL history. Roethlisberger’s ability to get the ball out of his hands quickly and allow his receivers to make plays after the catch will be the key to Pittsburgh’s success against the Ravens this Sunday night.

The Steelers are undefeated in their last 11 games against AFC North opponents. Pittsburgh has won 11 straight prime time games, one shy of the all-time record. In order to extend those streaks, the Steelers offence must continue to execute at a high level. With one of the league’s most difficult remaining schedules, it will be absolutely crucial for Pittsburgh to pick up a win versus Baltimore this Sunday night.