PITTSBURGH – At some point, the overworked defense was going to be asked to make one too many plays, one too many stops. At some point, the Jets were going to have to do something on offense that the Steelers could hear, and respect. At some point, Chad Pennington was going to have to do something to win this football game.

At this point, it is officially fair to wonder when he is going to do that in a situation that truly matters for the Jets.

The other quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, was bottled up most of the afternoon by an heroic Jets defense. But when the time came to make a play, a game-turning, knee-capping play, he made it. He dropped a 46-yard pass right into Lee Mays’ hands, setting up the Steelers’ final touchdown, sounding the Jets’ final death knell in this aggravating 17-6 Steelers victory.

Pennington?

Pennington never made those plays. He made plenty of nice throws. He exhibited the poise for which he is now famous. But the Jets never even made it into the Steeler red zone, all day long. On the one drive the Jets had when they were even with the Steelers, the Jets went three-and-out.

And so the Jets followed. Over and out. Before yesterday, it was possible to believe anything was possible for these Jets. Now you have to wonder if anything is possible. Now you have to ask yourself what every other football fan in America has wondered: Can the Jets ever beat a team they’re not supposed to beat?

For 30 minutes, there was little doubt the Jets were capable competitors, but that wasn’t supposed to be good enough this time around. The Jets had fought ably in all three of their losses heading into Heinz Field, at New England, at Buffalo, and against the Ravens.

They could easily have won all three of those games.

The reality is they lost all three of those games.

No medals for trying anymore, not with this team. Not at this point of the season. The Jets didn’t need any confidence boosts, not after fully four months of building their 9-3 record through 12 games, not after bulling their way into the picture of teams that belong in the second tier just behind the three teams that had but one loss heading into yesterday’s games.

No, the time for shots of self-esteem was past long before the Jets landed in Pittsburgh on Saturday. For if they do take care of business across the next few weeks and make the playoffs, they are going to have nothing but road games standing between themselves and the Super Bowl in Jacksonville.

Eventually, they’re going to have to win games like this, in venues like this, in weather like this, listening to hostility like this. This was as useful a dress rehearsal as the Jets could ever have asked for. Two games up in the wild-card. House money at their disposal.

All they needed to do was take care of their own end.

The defense did that. All across the first half, they smothered Duce Staley. They harassed Ben Roethlisberger. They kept the Steelers on the run, and kept the Jets in the game, and were the equal to all the nice things people have said about them all week, even without John Abraham anchoring the line.

It was the offense that caused all the agita.

It was the offense that seemed destined to keep the Jets from achieving what the defense so badly wanted to pull off. It was the offense that ran into a buzzsaw Pittsburgh defense and couldn’t get out of its own way. Even Pennington seemed baffled and bedazzled. He threw two touchdowns in the first half. He couldn’t find open men.

When Pennington plays like that, the Jets suddenly look a lot less potent, no matter how well the defense is playing. And don’t think that was lost on the 63,581 people inside Heinz, who knew that as long as the Steelers keep winning, the less their team will have to travel during the playoffs.

The Jets, at this point, will simply have to wait to see where they’re traveling. And have to wonder if it won’t be an awfully short trip.