Based on the high level of proficiency of today's passing offense, records like single-season touchdown passes are the most modern statistic in the NFL.
Several current quarterbacks, including Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger, currently own their team's single-season touchdown record. Last season, five quarterbacks threw for 30 touchdowns or more, with Peyton Manning setting the single-season touchdown record with 55. In 2003, the last year before Roethlisberger was drafted, Brett Favre led the NFL and was the only 30-touchdown passer with a total of 32.
Thirty-two is Roethlisberger's and the Steelers' high mark. He has 24 heading into Week 13, needing nine in five games to break his previous mark. Much of that is the result of an unprecedented 12 touchdown passes in two games (Weeks 8 and 9), but Roethlisberger has been outstanding all season.
The team's running game has improved considerably since last season, but so has Roethlisberger. Aided by the skill of wide receiver Antonio Brown (who's likely to set the team's individual receptions and receiving yards marks by Week 16), the Steelers' passing offense is among the best in the game.
Roethlisberger has often said he wants his legacy to be about wins, not about individual accomplishments. In 2014, it appears to be about both. The Steelers are 4-1 this season when Roethlisberger throws for more than one touchdown pass, and he only had more than one interception in one game - a loss to the Jets in Week 10.
He wasn't on his game in the Meadowlands and the Steelers didn't play well. As Roethlisberger goes, so go the Steelers. Because of that, it would seem wise to set up game plans for the last five games that involve heavy doses of passing. The matchups favor that to some degree, but Kansas City, one of the game's best defensive teams, is particularly tough against the pass. The Chiefs allow the third-least amount of passing yards to opposing teams (199) but the 17 passing touchdowns against them are around the middle of the league.
Roethlisberger also needs about 1,100 yards to reach his own franchise record for passing yards. An average just north of 200 a game would break it, strongly suggesting, barring the unthinkable, that he'll break the record, probably before Week 17.
The Steelers didn't win a playoff game in 2007, the year he set the single-season touchdown mark, and they didn't make the playoffs in 2009 when he set the yardage record. The team's best success in terms of wins and losses came when the offense was slanted toward the run or more balanced between the two.
The game has changed and so has the Steelers' offense. Sitting at 7-4 (losses to the Jets and Tampa Bay aside), their offense is in the top-5 in passing, sixth in scoring (26.2 points a game) and 11th in rushing.