The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t get help from the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night as they lost to the Los Angeles Chargers at home by a score of 20-3. That win puts the Chargers in the playoffs now and only leaves one path for the Steelers to make the playoffs with the Miami Dolphins being the prime player in that one.
Let’s get to some Steelers playoff scenarios with two weeks remaining in the 2022 regular season.
First the Steelers must win their final two games against the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns. In addition to that, the Dolphins must lose out or lose once and tie once. Their final two games are are again the New England Patriots and the New York Jets.
The Patriots and Jets are also both obstacles for the Steelers in the final two weeks should the Dolphins lose both of their final two games or lose one and tie one. Neither the Jets nor the Patriots can win out and obviously, neither team can lose to the Dolphins. One of either the Jets or Patriots can tie out in their respective final two games but not both because that would give the Dolphins two ties and put them in the playoffs.
The Jets play the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17 and the hope is that they lose that game. The Patriots play the Dolphins in Week 17 and they really need to win that game and then lose to or tie the Buffalo Bills in Week 18. If all those two games go that exact way, a Jets win or tie against the Dolphins in Week 18 would put the Steelers in.
Once again, none of the Dolphins, Patriots or the Jets can get to nine wins if the Steelers want to make the playoffs. Additionally, the Dolphins can’t tie their final two games. They must lose at least one of them.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the Steelers now have just a 2% chance of making the playoffs following the Chargers Monday night win.
EDITED TO ADD: The Steelers can tie one of their remaining two games if they win the other one as long as the Dolphins lose out, the Patriots lose to the Bills, the Jets lose to the Seahawks and the Titans and The Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars don’t tie in Week 18 should both win their week 17 games.
