PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are faced with an early fork in the road. Win Sunday’s road trip against the 0-4 Jacksonville Jaguars and last week’s stunning loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can be considered a blip on the radar.

But lose to a second consecutive winless team? That could be a fatal blow to a season that many throughout the organization believe is prime for Pittsburgh to return to playoff contender status.

“We just lost to one of the worst NFL teams in our house,” wide receiver Antonio Brown said of that 27-24 loss to the Bucs. “We blew the game. We feel embarrassed, we feel shame. Losing the game at the end is unacceptable.”

At 2-2, the Steelers are miles ahead of their 0-4 start of last season. And after they went 8-4 in their next 12 games, they put themselves in position to make the playoffs with a little help they almost got. They were hoping not to need that kind of help this season, but they already are behind the 3-0 Cincinnati Bengals and 3-1 Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North.

The defense, which is in the process of rebuilding with old and new alike, is not nearly where it had been three, four years ago or where they thought it might be. It ranks 16th in the NFL in yards allowed, but the Steelers also have just one interception and only seven sacks, which is tied for 18th in the league.

Safety Troy Polamalu said he’s not worried about his defense, that it will come around, “because we’re definitely ahead of where we were last year – record-wise and I would say defensive-wise. I feel like we have more potential. We have a good blend now of youth and experience. We just have to get the moving parts together.”

Jacksonville’s offense should give them that opportunity Sunday. The Jaguars are going with rookie quarterback Blake Bortles in his second start, three rookie wide receivers and so little pass protection that their 20 sacks allowed are seven more than the No. 2 worst pass protection unit in the NFL.

“We have guys who can step up,” defensive end Cam Heyward insisted. “I have complete confidence and faith we’re going to get the job done.”

Yet the Steelers were so shaky on defense that they signed two former players who were not even with them in training camp this summer. Defensive end Brett Keisel has not started but played 170 snaps in four games. Linebacker James Harrison was signed last week out of his brief retirement and played 29 snaps five days later against Tampa Bay. Both are 36 years old.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are not a good team and even present an inviting target for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Co. by allowing 320.8 yards per game passing. It should all add up to a Steelers victory and a 3-2 record. If not, this team is in for another very long season.

SERIES HISTORY: 22nd meeting, Jaguars lead the regular-season series 11-10, including 7-4 in Jacksonville. The Steelers won their most recent game, 17-13, at Heinz Field. Jacksonville is 1-0 in the postseason, a 31-29 victory at Heinz Field in Mike Tomlin’s first playoff game after the 2007 season. The teams were in the same division, the AFC Central, from the time Jacksonville entered the league as an expansion franchise in 1995 until the two teams went to the North and South divisions in 2002.

— G Ramon Foster (ankle), held out of last Sunday’s game even though he said he was ready to go, went through a full practice on Wednesday.

— LB James Harrison (illness) did not practice on Wednesday, but should be ready to play Sunday. He played 29 snaps last Sunday, four days after his first practice in nine months.

— OT Marcus Gilbert (ankle) was limited in practice, but is expected to start Sunday.

— WR Markus Wheaton (groin) was limited in practice, but is not expected to miss Sunday’s game.

GAME PLAN: Pittsburgh hopes to take advantage of a poor Jacksonville defense that ranks No. 32 overall – 32nd against the pass and 25th vs. the run. They would prefer to run because one thing the Jaguars have been able to do is sack the quarterback – 12 times. On defense, the Steelers hope to put pressure on rookie Blake Bortles. He has been sacked four times and Chad Henne 16 times.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH: Steelers OTs Kelvin Beachum and Marcus Gilbert, who have had protection problems, against a group of Jaguars who have combined for 12 sacks, led by defensive end Andre Branch’s 3.0.

Jacksonville’s rookie trio of QB Blake Bortless and WRs Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson vs. a Steelers pass defense that has not performed well, despite ranking 16th by yards allowed in the NFL.