Whether they announce it or not, the Pittsburgh Steelers always strive to unleash hell in December. Head coach Mike Tomlin has the Steelers with the third-best winning percentage at .629 during the month since he stepped into the building in 2007, going 44-26 in 77 December games. Only the Green Bay Packers (.727) and the New England Patriots (.710) are better.
Tomlin individually also has the highest December win percentage among current head coaches at home at 29-11, or .725. The Steelers host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. I’m sure they feel as confident as ever in their ability to win on a roster filled with veterans who understand what this time of year means.
“It’s where you punch your ticket to the playoffs”, Cameron Heyward told Missi Matthews during an exclusive interview for the team’s website. “Usually we’re in the mix for all of it. You gain ground or you lose ground. We know we have some important games coming up, but we’ve got to take advantage of this opportunity”.
The Steelers are sitting at 7-4 and are currently positioned as the top Wildcard seed in the AFC. With one game left to play against the 9-3 Baltimore Ravens, who are idle this week, they still control their fate for the division. And with no team in the conference with fewer than three losses, things are still wide open.
That means Pittsburgh must take advantage of the opportunities that lie in front of them. They will be playing five games this month, all of them against teams with non-winning records short of the Indianapolis Colts at 6-5, who are without their starting quarterback.
“I think it’s just guys buying in at the right time. There’s a multitude of things that go on throughout the season, but I think everybody’s locked in for a December run”, Heyward said. “You look it and say 29-11, there’s 11 losses on there. But you’ve got to spread that out throughout Mike T’s career. That’s pretty big. He’s been here longer than me. That’s less than one a year if you’re counting his book”.
The Steelers went 3-1 last December, the only loss coming against the Ravens in a game in which QB Kenny Pickett was knocked out in the first quarter due to a concussion. It was a very winnable game even with Mitch Trubisky, minus his three interceptions.
With that said, more recent Decembers have been less kind. They went 2-2 in 2021 and 2-3 in 2020 (2-4 if you include January), and 2-3 in 2019 and 2018 as well. Their last December winning record before last season was 2017 when they went 4-1.
Looking at the schedule with the 2-10 Cardinals, the 2-9 Patriots, the 6-5 Colts, the 5-6 Bengals, and the 6-6 Seahawks, the Steelers should be able to knock out this month. I would consider anything less than 4-1 with an 11-5 record a disappointment going into the January finale against the Ravens. Anything less and they will almost undoubtedly have no shot at the division, though Baltimore has a tough remaining schedule.
