OK, so the Pittsburgh Steelers lost a game.

No reason to panic, right?

After all, every other NFL team has lost a game.

Then again, the strangeness of the Steelers’ 2020 season to this point almost mirrors the strangeness of 2020 in general.

Even when they were 11-0, most Steeler fans remained un-convinced — and downright hesitant — to call their team the favorite to reach the Super Bowl. Most of the nation’s football followers believe Kansas City is most likely to punch that ticket.

The Steelers opened the season with wins over the Giants, Broncos and Texans. They had to hang on to beat the latter two — both having down years — at Heinz Field.

Then they traveled to Nashville to face the then-unbeaten Titans and absolutely throttled them in the first half. Just when it looked like the Steelers were going to assert themselves as a true power, they nearly blew the game in the second half and held on for a three-point win.

They went on to throttle Cleveland, then rally from a double-digit deficit to beat Baltimore on the road. Again, the Steelers began to gain national respect.

Then they nearly laid a major egg before barely nipping a woeful Dallas team. However, blowouts of Cincinnati and Jacksonville followed.

Now these last two games, the Steelers have looked dreadful in edging the Ravens’ junior varsity and blowing a 14-point lead in losing to the Washington Football Team.

Will the real Pittsburgh Steelers please stand up?

Are they Super Bowl contenders or Super phonies?

The answer to those questions may finally come Sunday night in Buffalo. This is shaping up as the biggest game of the team’s regular season.

The Bills have been playing solid football. They are closing in on a division title and have one of the bright young quarterbacks in the league in Josh Allen.

The Steelers can’t keep their linebackers healthy. Devin Bush, Bud Dupree, Robert Spillane all injured knees and now Vince Williams is on the COVID list. That adds to the challenge of Sunday night.

Go up there and win, and these last two Steeler performances will be all but forgotten — especially if Pittsburgh actually tries to establish a running game now that James Conner is back.

The Steelers gained a paltry 21 yards on the ground against Washington. Of course, they ran the ball only 14 times, compared to throwing it 53 times in a game in which Pittsburgh led much of the time.

That’s not even trying to run the ball in my book.

Lose at Buffalo Sunday night and this season takes on a whole different look.

Two-game losing streak. Possibly a one-game lead on Cleveland for the division with a season-finale on the lake-front looming.

The Bills get right on their tail in terms of playoff seeding as well.

Sunday night’s game will not make or break the Steelers’ season.

It will, however, send it in a very definite direction.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle