Why Week 4 game vs. Browns is huge test for Steelers' Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy passed his first big test as the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach with their 30-27 Week 3 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

It was not only a huge divisional win, but it was a win that the Steelers desperately needed after an ugly Week 2 loss. They needed to show they could bounce back from a poor showing, and their offense needed to show some sign of improvement.

All of that happened.

But for as big of a test as that was for McCarthy and his new team, their Week 4 game against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night is an even bigger test. 

It will also be a test as to how different things really are for this Steelers team under a new head coach.

Why Week 4 is huge test for Mike McCarthy and the Steelers

So far the Steelers have mostly stuck to the same script they have had over the better part of the past five years. 

The offense looked awful for two weeks and split a couple of games, continuing to look like a nine-win team that would need to win games by way of the football equivalent of a rock fight.  

Then they scored a lot of points against the Bengals and won a close, high-scoring game 

Nothing about this is uncharted territory for the Steelers. 

The offense has been a mess for years, but they always score a lot of points against the Bengals, and they have generally beaten them. Sunday's win was their sixth victory over the Bengals in their past nine games, while it is the seventh time they scored at least 30 points against them over that stretch.

This is all business as usual, and it's why you should not make too much out of Sunday's offensive performance. 

What makes Thursday such a big test is the reality that it is a chance for McCarthy and the Steelers to flip the script and produce a different result.

It is an opportunity to put up big offensive numbers and build some momentum against a team and a defense that is not the Bengals.

It is a chance to win in a stadium (Cleveland), and on a day (Thursday), where the Steelers have struggled for years. They have never won a Thursday night, road divisional game. They are just 2-5-1 in their past eight trips to Cleveland, including three consecutive losses. 

Of those five losses, three of them have come on Thursday night games. 

Week 3 against the Bengals, even if you believe in the Bengals being a contender, is the type of game this Steelers team and core have typically won, and in that exact same manner. 

This game is the type of game the Steelers have typically lost. 

If they go up to Cleveland and lay an egg offensively and lose a 16-10 game, everything is going to still feel the same around this team.

But if they go up there and win, and put up a 30-spot, it might be a sign that maybe McCarthy is going to be able to get something more out of this group, and specifically out of this offense.