PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers enter their bye week after winning four of their last five games, putting them in the thick of AFC playoff race at 7-4.

They show an ability to be explosive both throwing the ball — as Ben Roethlisberger did with 12 touchdown passes in two games — and running it behind Le’Veon Bell’s 204 yards Sunday in Tennessee.

But they have not shown any consistency on offense and their defense remains as shaky as ever. They were the only team to lose to Tampa Bay (at home, to boot) before the Bucs won their second game last week. They are one of only two teams to lose to the New York Jets. And they trailed the two-win Tennessee Titans by 11 in the fourth quarter before pulling out a 27-24 victory.

Roethlisberger was sacked five times in that game and for the second straight game, he threw some poor passes to receivers who were wide open, two of them in the end zone that he missed. Nevertheless, he has a 105.3 passer rating and is on pace to break his own records with 3,270 yards passing and 24 touchdowns. He has just six interceptions.

Bell now represents their entire ground game because they released veteran backup LeGarrette Blount after he left the field while Sunday’s game was still going on, upset because he had no carries.

Over on defense, the Steelers had no sacks of rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger and have just 19 through 11 games. Opposing quarterbacks have a 93.8 passer rating against them. The Steelers have forced just 14 turnovers.

They should get some players back on that defense from injuries, if not for their next game on Nov. 30 against New Orleans, then in the next week or two after that, all starters — rookie linebacker Ryan Shazier, cornerback Ike Taylor, safety Troy Polamalu and nose tackle Steve McLendon.

They have what appears to be a more formidable schedule down the stretch because every team they play either is in first place in its division or tied for first — New Orleans, at Cincinnati, at Atlanta, Kansas City and Cincinnati. That might actually be good news for a team that has played down to its opponents this season and the few before this one. Two of their best games this year came against Indianapolis and Baltimore, both at home, where they will play three of their final five games.

This is the latest the Steelers have ever had a bye week and it could re-energize them for the final push. After going 8-8 in each of the past two seasons and barely missing out on the playoffs in each, they are poised to have their first winning record since 2011 — but it should take more than that for them to make the playoffs this year.

NOTE: CB Ike Taylor, out with a broken right forearm since the third game of the season, said he hopes to return to play after the bye week.