PHOTO BY ABIGAIL DEAN | PITTSBURGH STEELERS

They scored 16.6 points per game with Matt Canada and they scored 16 points without Canada in Cincinnati.

So why does it feel like everyone thinks it’s time for the Steelers to start planning a parade?

It is not and they should not.

“Points,” quarterback Kenny Pickett emphasized this week. “That’s what we want. We want points.

“Yards are great, you know, yards are great. But points win you games.”

Glad he cleared that up.

The NFL, for some reason, ranks offenses and defenses on a weekly basis by yards, not points.

It’s a barometer that misrepresents.

The Steelers’ defense is as good an example as any. They’re 25th in total defense this week (allowing an average of 354.4 yards per game) and fifth in scoring defense (18.6 points per game surrendered).

They’re much closer to being a Top 5-defense than they are a bottom feeder.

The Steelers’ offense, conversely, checks in this week at 292.9 yards gained (26th) and 16.5 points scored (28th) per game.

And in this instance either statistic paints an accurate picture.

Even after that 421-yard explosion in Cincinnati minus Canada.

At least they accomplished something they hadn’t since Sept. 20, 2020 and that embarrassing streak of 58 consecutive games without making it to 400 yards has been snapped.

So, there’s that.

But what has a chance to really resonate after last Sunday’s win over the Bengals is, not the 400-plus yards necessarily, but the manner in which the Steelers gained them.

They ran the ball well, something they had done in the final stages of Canada’s much-maligned tenure. And while they didn’t win the turnover battle, they didn’t lose it, either (something the Steelers have been good at not doing all season).

But this time they were also adept at recognizing how they were being defended and attacking accordingly (by either throwing in front of two deep safeties over the middle of the field or down the sideline against man-to-man coverage),

The return of tight end Pat Freiermuth, not just to the lineup but in an up-to-full-speed capacity after a lengthy absence, helped not just over the middle of the field but also with the Steelers’ newfound commitment to playing three tight ends at a time with regularity. That’s a package they believe dictates what type of defense they’ll see and affords them the option to run or pass from snap to snap.

With all of that working for them, their quarterback didn’t look overmatched.

So, there’s that, too.

None of it translated into multiple touchdowns, but those weren’t necessary given the state of the Bengals.

The Steelers scored just enough, and they possessed the ball for 37:17 while doing so, which kept the defense protected and in position to dominate when called upon.

“Rest,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt assessed when asked what had been critical to the defense playing as well as it had. “I think we took 21, 22 snaps in the first half as a defense, and that’s huge.

“Spent a lot of time on the bench and that was awesome as a defense.”

For the record, the Bengals ran 20 offensive plays in the game’s first 30 minutes, and one of those was a kneel-down at the conclusion of the second quarter.

And therein lies the formula.

PHOTO BY KARL ROSER | PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Eventually, the offense is going to have to score more points.

But it didn’t last Sunday against the Bengals and it probably won’t this Sunday against the Cardinals or when the Steelers play the Bengals again (the second of their two annual meetings will be staged on Dec. 23 in Pittsburgh).

So the blueprint for getting the Steelers from 7-4 to the postseason has at least been established.

The minimum game day requirement the rest of the way will be to make the games play out the way the Bengals game did.

While that’s happening, the Steelers will have between now and the playoffs to figure out how to translate yards into points in a manner that’ll make the playoffs worth making in the first place.

The former is at least intriguing in a season that’s included more angst and upheaval than the Steelers’ 7-4 record might otherwise indicate, but still less than a cause for celebration.

It’s the latter that has a chance to once and for all change the narrative.