With the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Seattle Seahawks 30-23 in Week 17, the Steelers need to win or tie the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18 and then get help if they want to make the playoffs. The two games that Steelers fans will watch closely are the Buffalo Bills-Miami Dolphins matchup and the Jacksonville Jaguars-Tennessee Titans matchup. There’s also a chance the Colts-Texans matchup could come into play with a tie, and there’s one scenario where the Steelers can get in even if they lose.
Here are the scenarios with potential scenarios to get the No. 6 seed:
- Jaguars Lose, Bills Win, Steelers Win: Pittsburgh Gets No. 7 seed.
- Jaguars Lose, Steelers Tie, Colts/Texans Do Not Tie: Pittsburgh Gets No. 7
- Jaguars Win, Bills Lose, Steelers Win: Pittsburgh Gets No. 7 seed.
- Jaguars and Bills both Lose, Steelers Win: Pittsburgh Gets No. 6 seed. If Pittsburgh ties, it would get No.7 seed.
- Jaguars Tie, Bills Win, Steelers Win: Pittsburgh Gets No. 7 seed. If Bills lose, Pittsburgh Gets No. 6 seed
- Colts/Texans tie, Steelers Win: Pittsburgh Gets No. 7 seed. If Bills lose, Pittsburgh Gets No. 6 seed
- Broncos win, Jaguars Lose, Steelers Lose, Colts/Texans Do Not Tie: Pittsburgh Gets No. 7 seed.
No other scenario would get the Steelers into the playoffs. If the Bills beat the Dolphins and the Jaguars beat the Titans, it won’t matter if the Steelers win or tie against the Ravens, as they’ll be left on the outside looking in at the playoff field unless the Colts and Texans end up tying.
One positive for Pittsburgh is that the Ravens may opt to bench some starters as they’ve already clinched the AFC’s No. 1 seed. However, Steelers-Ravens matchups are always hard-fought affairs, and there’s nothing that Baltimore would like to do more than try and play spoiler to Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes.
It’s going to be a lot of scoreboard watching Week 18 for Steelers fans, but the most important thing is that the Steelers take care of their own business by beating the Ravens. They can’t control what happens around them, and losing to Baltimore makes things a whole lot more difficult.
It’s a Steelers team coming in with momentum after back-to-back wins with QB Mason Rudolph under center, and it should be a good battle in Week 18.
