After three consecutive losses, the Steelers picked up a much-needed victory on Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals. After a few aggravating Mitch Trubisky starts, we finally got to see what Mason Rudolph was made of in 2023, and he exceeded expectations by any measure.
The team recorded its second-best offensive yardage output of the season and set a season-high for team passing yards with 284. It was the most passing yards the Steelers have recorded since Week Five of last season, which is more of a knock on the Steelers than anything else.
There was at least some optimism to come out of that game for fans, as the Steelers looked like somewhat of a real football team again and improved their divisional record to an impressive 4-1. But for Najee Harris, the frustration regarding this season still lingers. He shared his thoughts in an interview today, via Steelers Live.
“[The win] didn’t alleviate nothing, we gotta win the rest of the season to make the playoffs, right?” Harris said, in response to asking if the win alleviated any frustration. “One game ain’t gonna alleviate nothing. One game is good, we stacked another one on the winning bracket, but we gotta win two more.”
It seems like, at least from Harris’ perspective, there are to be no moral victories this season for the team, and for good reason. It’s not long ago that the Steelers stood at 7-4, with a relatively easy upcoming schedule and a really good shot at making the playoffs. Even with the win last week, those playoff odds are just 12%, according to the New York Times.
As Harris noted, the team needs to win its last two games to qualify for the playoffs — and that’s if the Steelers also get some help. While it isn’t impossible, a split leaves them at just 12% (if they just beat Seattle) or 33% (if they just beat the Ravens). Winning both, while not clinching them a spot, puts them at a 92% chance to make the playoffs.
If this team can’t win out and make the playoffs this year, it’s going to be a loud offseason. It’ll mean that this team has recorded 10 wins just once since 2017, that being in the wonky COVID season of 2020. I would compare this era of Steelers football to the mid-2010s Atlanta Hawks: always respectable but stuck in purgatory a little bit though that might be unfair to the Hawks, who won 60 games in 2015. The Steelers have a chance to make a statement over the last two weeks, and they know it.
