Can’t we just have fun with this?

The Steelers are 11-2 — off to their best start since Ben Roethlisberger’s rookie season — yet fans of the team seem more critical and on edge than usual.

Pittsburgh has won a number of close games against opponents who on paper appear to be inferior talent-wise. The Browns, Packers, Colts and Lions immediately come to mind there.

Those games have triggered thoughts such as:

Is Ben really into playing this year?

Why doesn’t Mike Tomlin ever get his team prepared to blow out inferior opposition?

Why can’t our secondary cover anybody?

Why can’t Tomlin ever learn clock management?

The list could go on and on.

We can all call plays better than Todd Haley. Almost every Steeler fan has that opinion.

And Sunday’s game against New England at Heinz Field has been the game fans around here have been talking about — and dreading — for weeks now.

When Tomlin actually answered Tony Dungy’s question a couple of weeks ago about the magnitude of the New England game, people were shocked. How could the head coach be looking agead like that? We can do it. He can’t. He’s the head coach. He should be focused on the Bengals and the Ravens ... No wonder these games have been so close!

We all need to take a deep breath and relax.

The man was just answering a question posed by a good friend. Dungy asked that Tomlin not answer that question in “Coach-speak” and Tomlin did him a favor.

And got lambasted for it.

No, the Steelers have not been playing perfect football. It’s unfair to expect them to take the field each Sunday and obliterate every team they play. Nobody does that.

New England lost to Miami on a national stage, for goodness sake.

Some of these Steeler wins — rallying from 11 points down to beat Baltimore 39-38, from 14 down to beat Indianapolis, 20-17, from 17 down to defeat Cincinnati 23-20 — have been heart-stopping victories.

The Cleveland Browns haven’t won a game all season. The Steelers had to scrap their way to a 21-18 win in Cleveland to begin the season.

This is pro football. Every team has good players, regardless of the won-loss record.

The Steelers dominated the Minnesota Vikings, who are 10-3. They beat the Chiefs in Kansas City at a time KC was 5-0. Nobody talks about those games.

I’ve seen the numbers. Tom Brady is 10-2 against the Steelers. The Patriots are 44-6 in games after a loss since 2003.

Bottom line: The Steelers can come very close to clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC if they win Sunday.

We should be enjoying the ride, not questioning the trip.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle