No Ben Roethlisberger, No Problem: The Steelers Always Find a Way to Survive.

Stop me if you have heard this one before: The Steelers look like Super Bowl contenders, but Ben Roethlisberger is injured, forcing the team to cross its fingers and try to survive behind a backup quarterback for a while.

Sounds like last year. And 2012. And 2010. And 2005. 

Roethlisberger rarely plays a full 16-game season. Sometimes he misses just one start due to injury, like in 2011 or 2009. But he often misses a multigame chunk of the season. Roethlisberger underwent surgery for a torn meniscus on Monday. With the bye coming after a visit from the Patriots, it is not clear whether Roethlisberger will miss just one game or a "chunk."

Either way, the Steelers are going to be fine. They've been here and done this many times. In fact, history tells us exactly what to expect during Roethlisberger's absence:

• The backups will be bad.

• There will probably be more than one of them.

• The Steelers will somehow grind out a win or two.

• Roethlisberger will be back sooner than expected.

• The Steelers will still make a playoff run. Or even a Super Bowl run.

Let's run through each of those bullet points to understand just why no one in Pittsburgh is panicking.

The backups will be bad.

Landry Jones is 32-of-56 (57.1 percent) for 513 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions in a four-year career that includes two starts, some cleanup appearances and one pass attempt on Sunday before the Steelers decided they were better off with an injured Roethlisberger in the game than Jones.

The high point of Jones' NFL career was a two-touchdown relief effort against the Cardinals last season, punctuated by an 88-yard pass to Martavis Bryant late in the game. The low point of Jones' NFL career may have been when he was pulled from the lineup in favor of a still-hobbled Roethlisberger on Sunday.

Jones threw four interceptions in a preseason loss to the Eagles in August. When I visited the Steelers in training camp, there was real chatter about fourth-stringer Dustin Vaughan supplanting either Bruce Gradkowski (Roethlisberger's hypothetical, perpetually injured veteran backup) or Jones. In four preseasons and training camps, Jones has never even been good enough to render Gradkowski extraneous, which is not exactly an endorsement. (Jones, however, won the long game, as both Gradkowski and Vaughan have since been released.) 

But Jones is just the latest in a long line of stopgap Steelers backups.

There will probably be more than one of them.

The Steelers signed Michael Vick as Roethlisberger insurance when Gradkowski got hurt last year (another non-endorsement for Jones). Vick did late-career Vick stuff for a few games—ran around in circles, launched the occasional bomb, got injured—forcing the Steelers to turn to Jones.

Byron Leftwich was the backup when Roethlisberger suffered a shoulder injury in November 2012. Leftwich threw an interception, was sacked three times and famously injured himself by somehow tripping over the goal line after scrambling for a touchdown. Longtime Roethlisberger stunt double Charlie Batch started the next two games.

Dennis Dixon started the first two games in 2010 when Roethlisberger was suspended but tore his meniscus in his second start. Batch relieved him for two more starts.

Tommy Maddox filled in for Roethlisberger during a 2005 knee injury and threw three interceptions in a loss. Batch replaced Maddox as the Steelers backup when Roethlisberger eventually needed surgery, but Batch got hurt in his second start, forcing Maddox back into the lineup.

Even when Roethlisberger only misses one game, the third-stringer often ends up getting the call. Roethlisberger suffered a concussion in 2009, but Batch was hurt just a few plays later, forcing Dixon into the lineup the following week.

The Steelers' third-string quarterback is Zach Mettenberger, the former LSU starter and Titans backup acquired by the team late in camp. Don't be surprised to see him in the huddle at some point if Roethlisberger misses more than one start.

The Steelers will somehow grind out a win or two.

The Steelers are 11-9 behind backup quarterbacks since 2005. Batch was 6-3, Dixon and Vick 2-1, Jones 1-1, Leftwich and Maddox were a combined 0-3.

As you might guess from the names on the list, there weren't many offensive fireworks in those 11 Steelers wins. Dixon's victories were by scores of 15-9 and 19-11, for instance. The Steelers had a total of 43 passing yards in one of the games. Without Roethlisberger, the Steelers play what old-timers consider "Steelers football": all rushing and defense.

With Vick or Jones under center last year, the Steelers broke out the Cro-Magnon tactics. They hammered Le'Veon Bell into the line. They fed Antonio Brown screens and asked him to weave for yards. There were a few options for Vick and direct snaps for Bell. There were occasional bombs, but nothing that required much passing-game precision. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley doesn't expect his backups to do even a fraction of what Roethlisberger does. Even on Sunday, with the Dolphins leading, Jones mostly just handed off and waited for halftime.

If Sunday's defensive collapse is any indication, this Steelers team may not be as good as last year's team, let alone the Super Bowl teams of the previous decade, at grunting out defensive victories. Luckily, they may not have to for very long.

Roethlisberger will be back sooner than expected.

Roethlisberger has missed a full 16-game season's worth of starts to injury (four others to suspension) in 11 seasons. Looking back on his injury history, it's shocking that he missed so few.

Roethlisberger suffered an MCL sprain and a concussion last year, plus a playoff shoulder injury. He sprained an ankle and his throwing shoulder and dislocated a rib in 2012. He missed just one game with an injury to his throwing hand in 2011. Previous seasons were interrupted by a variety of Achilles, hip, ankle and throwing shoulder injuries.

Last season, Roethlisberger sprained his foot in Week 9, then came off the bench when Jones sprained his ankle in Week 10. He missed no time with the concussion or shoulder injury. Roethlisberger often finishes games despite significant injuries, as he did on Sunday. The injured Roethlisberger's most reliable backup over the years has not been Batch or Jones but the injured Roethlisberger.

So timetables don't quite apply for Roethlisberger. What looked like a potential catastrophe when he went to the locker room on Sunday afternoon and when surgery news broke on Sunday night is looking more like a bump in the road.

The Steelers can still make a playoff run. Or even a Super Bowl run.

The Steelers won the Super Bowl in Roethlisberger's second season in 2005, even though he missed four starts. No, these aren't quite those Jerome Bettis/Hines Ward/Troy Polamalu Steelers, particularly not on defense. But they aren't that far off.

The 2010 Steelers reached the Super Bowl despite Roethlisberger's season-opening suspension. They reached the second round of the playoffs last year despite a month of Vick-and-Jones Follies. The 2012 team came up short at 8-8, but the Steelers were only 7-6 when Roethlisberger was healthy, anyway.

The Steelers have assembled their roster the same way for decades. Their backup quarterbacks are uninspiringly cost-effective, but they stick around forever and know the offense. Haley keeps that 1956 game plan within arm's reach knowing that stretches like this happen. The whole organization knows how to muck out a win or two when they have to.

The Steelers will lose to the Patriots on Sunday. Losses to the Patriots happen. They have work to do on defense to prevent the types of blowouts the Dolphins and Eagles have handed them. That will be hard to do with Jones under center, because the defense will be on the field even longer. But they have a bye week coming and a late-season goal to shoot for.

The season ends with three straight divisional games. Roethlisberger will be back to full strength by then. Heck, he may already be on to his next injury. A streak of AFC North matchups is just the kind of thing that could launch the Steelers into the playoffs.

History tells us that's very possible, and that all this hand-wringing over Roethlisberger's torn meniscus could be only a memory by January.

Mike Tanier covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @MikeTanier.