Believe it or not, the Pittsburgh Steelers still have a shot at being the AFC’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
No, seriously.
Sitting at 7-4 after a 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 12, the Steelers find themselves comfortably in a playoff spot in a loaded AFC, and even have a shot — even if it’s a long one — at the coveted No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
Currently, the Baltimore Ravens are the No. 1 seed in the AFC and would have a first-round bye if the season ended today. But don’t rule out the Steelers just yet.
In a piece for NFL.com Monday taking a look at the seven teams with realistic shots at the top seed in the AFC, NFL.com columnist Jeffri Chadiha made the case for and against the Steelers landing the No. 1 seed.
“This team just finds a way. Pittsburgh has been doing it all season with a limited offense, and it might be capable of continuing that success now that offensive coordinator Matt Canada has been fired. The Steelers produced a season-high 421 yards in Sunday’s 16-10 win over Cincinnati with running backs coach Eddie Faulkner running the offense and quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan calling the plays,” Chadiha writes regarding why the Steelers might be able to land the No. 1 seed. “When you combine that kind of production with a defense the features a true game wrecker in T.J. Watt, you can start to feel better about what this team could do late in the season. It also helps that the Steelers have one of the easiest schedules in the league moving forward.
“In the next four weeks alone, they’ll see two of the league’s worst teams (Arizona and New England), plus the Bengals with backup quarterback Jake Browning again.”
As Chadiha notes, the Steelers just find a way. It’s rather remarkable that they’re 7-4 at this point in the season after the plethora of issues they’ve had offensively all season.
But Sunday’s performance in Cincinnati might have been a turning point for the Black and Gold. Pittsburgh racked up 421 yards of total offense, second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett looked as confident as he’s looked in the NFL to date and made some big-time throws, utilizing all areas of the field.
Add the power rushing attack that the Steelers have rolling right now and things are looking up. Plus, the schedule is quite advantageous moving forward with the Cardinals, Patriots and Colts in the next three weeks — all three very winnable games for Pittsburgh, which could be 10-4 coming out of this stretch, and at worst 9-5.
That’s big.
But still, the top seed is a long shot.
“It’s too early to buy into the Steelers’ offense. This is still the same team that was outgained in every one of its first 10 games this season,” Chadiha writes while making the case against Pittsburgh claiming the top seed. “That’s way too big a sample size to dismiss at this point. Pittsburgh also is fighting for supremacy in the toughest division in football, the AFC North. Mike Tomlin is a hell of a coach. His problem is the Ravens have more talent.”
The Ravens might have more talent, but Tomlin and the Steelers own them currently, especially with Lamar Jackson under center.
The AFC is tough, as is the AFC North with the Steelers having two games left in the division. But Pittsburgh plays well within the division and is already 3-1 within the AFC North, sitting second currently.
It might be too early to buy into the Pittsburgh’s transformation offensively following the firing of Matt Canada, but there’s a lot to like coming out of the Week 12 win. We’ll see if they can build off it in the next three weeks. Should they do so, the buzz surrounding the Steelers will get louder and louder.
And who knows, they might wind up being the No. 1 seed in the AFC in the end, which would be rather incredible based on how this season has gone to date.
