ARTHUR SMITH | PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

The preseason can “distort reality,” and often does, new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith reminded one and all this week — and with good reason.

Through two preseason games the new-look offense Smith coordinates has been an all-too-familiar no-show.

That, however, isn’t necessarily a sign of things to come.

For these Steelers, it had better not be.

The good news is last season it wasn’t.

Remember that 3-0 record in games that didn’t matter in 2023?

Remember Kenny Pickett’s perfect passer rating of 158.3?

Remember the first-team offense turning five exhibition possessions into five touchdowns?

None of that translated into a regular season that proved to be the last with the Steelers for Pickett and for offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

Smith’s predecessor didn’t even make it to Thanksgiving.

That’s how misleading, how distorted last season’s preseason was.

It’s a whole new ballgame this summer for an offense that was overhauled well beyond the departures of Canada, Pickett and anybody else who played a snap at quarterback in 2023.

So it’s probably just coincidental that the early returns have been deja vu all over again.

Russell Wilson, the successor to Pickett, Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph at QB, directed five possessions last Saturday night against Buffalo that resulted in first downs being generated on two occasions and 49 total net yards being gained.

The Steelers had better hope that’s a reality that’s been distorted.

But even if it is, the offense still might not look all that different.

And that’s a reality Steelers fans had better begin to wrap their heads around.

At its best, the offense Smith coordinates and Wilson directs will possess the ball and gradually grind opponents down.

If it can do that and manage to score a few more points along the way, the offense has a chance to be what the Steelers will need it to be.

But if the first two preseason efforts have presented anything that’s more foreshadowing than distorted in nature, it’s that the run-the-ball, play-action-pass, bootleg-with-an-occasional-deep-shot-mixed-in blueprint doesn’t have much room to color outside the lines.

This offense, provided the right guys stay healthy, can deliver according to plan.

But it has to stay on schedule.

It can’t get behind the chains or fall too far behind in games.

They’ll need to win the way they intend to on offense because there just aren’t many other options.

As long as this year’s Steelers can at least stay on the field for more than three plays at a time when they’re not scoring touchdowns, the defense will have a chance to keep the games winnable until if and when the offense can meet the minimum-standard requirement for getting into the end zone.

But at its best Smith’s offense isn’t going to be the Greatest Show on Turf.

No one should have been expecting anything approaching that, despite all the massive changes on that side of the ball.

What we’ve seen heading into Saturday’s preseason finale at Detroit should be interpreted, thus, much more as confirmation than a revelation.

What we’ll need to see starting on Sept. 8 at Atlanta, when what happens will actually start to matter, is functional consistency.

That shouldn’t be beyond this team’s reach.

And that’s why the Steelers have remained confident regarding what they’re about to achieve, even as the fan base understandably succumbs to a preseason case of offensive PTSD.

“Last year we were the highest of highs and, obviously, we’re not where we want to be right now,” offered tight end Pat Freiermuth, one of the holdovers on offense from last season. “We understand.

“I’ve seen both perspectives of it.”

Enough, in other words, to maintain perspective at present.

But that’ll become much tougher to do if things don’t come together in a hurry in Atlanta.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.