What do the Steelers and the U.S. Congress have in common? Both refuse to address the pressing economic issues of the day, but chose instead to, proverbially, kick the can down the road.

That will be the end of the bipartisan political talk but not of the Steelers refusal to address their salary cap issues in a sensible manner.

The Steelers annual bout with their salary cap is one of the most overrated sports stories of this and every year.  It’s overrated because: (1) it happens almost every year with only the names of the players sometimes changing;  (2) it always ends the same way with the Steelers restructuring the contracts of as many players as it takes to get the cap number down to the mandated level.

Does anyone seriously believe the Steelers would not do this and instead be punished by the NFL?

The Steelers already have restructured the contract of linebacker Lawrence Timmons and are said to be working on Ben Roethlisberger’s deal. According to Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com, this is the third straight year they have restructured Roethlisberger’s contract.

Hensley does a good job of describing restructuring. Here’s his take: ``It doesn't give or take away money from players nor does it add any years to their current contracts. The restructuring turns their 2013 salaries into bonuses, so it reduces their cap hit this year and spreads it over the remaining years of their deals.’’

Hensley concludes, and this is critical: ``The problem is it forces teams to deal with bloated cap numbers in the future, which often puts them over the cap (like this year for the Steelers).’’

The Steelers would once have figured to be the last team not willing to address salary cap issues. The team was fiscally responsible to a fault.  Not anymore.  As I wrote earlier this month, ``. . . the intoxicating aura of a ‘Super Bowl Window of Opportunity’ affected the team's long-time sensibilities when it comes to running a franchise.’’

The Steelers need to get tough with their salary cap problems. They are a team that believes in building through the draft, paying their own players and resorting to free agency only when absolutely necessary and then usually with moderately priced players.

It once was hard to argue with that philosophy. But not after zero playoff wins in the past two seasons, one playoff appearance and, most recently, an 8-8 record.

Plain and simple: The Steelers have too many needs to replenish their roster through the draft. They must resort to free agency. The only way to do that is to take seriously their salary cap issues and get it down to a point where they can become players in free agency.

If that affects their ability to compete for one year, so be it. Their Super Bowl window remains open as long as Roethlisberger is quarterback but they must get players around him and they cannot do that when they are perpetually in salary cap Hell.