While the upcoming Monday night game against the Houston Texans isn’t technically a must-win game for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s probably pretty close to being labeled that.
According to PlayoffStatus.com, a Steelers loss Monday night to the Texans would leave the then-four loss team with only a 19% chance of making the playoffs.
It’s important to remember that the Texans also enter the game Monday night with a 3-3 record. If the Steelers lose to them, it could come back to haunt them should it come down to head-to-head tie breakers at the conclusion of the season. That’s wishful thinking right now considering how the Steelers are playing, but it could happen.
As far as the Steelers odds to win the Super Bowl this year go, Bovada now has them at 66/1 following their Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns. At the beginning of August, Bovada had the Steelers at 28/1 to win it all this year.
If you are looking for a little glimmer of hope should the Steelers wind up being 3-4 after Monday night, you should know that the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2001 after starting that season 3-4. They won eight of their last nine games that season to finish 11-5. Think the Steelers can pull that off?
The worst case for the Steelers in Week 7 is quite obvious and it includes the Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns all winning this weekend coupled with the Steelers losing Monday night to the Texans.
So where do you rank this game Monday night on the must-win scale? On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being a must-win, it’s hard to give it anything less than a 9, in my opinion.
