The Pittsburgh Steelers entered Saturday evening’s game with their backs against the wall in more ways than one. Riding a three-game losing streak, their season was on the line. Even with the 34-11 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium, their playoff hopes remain slim at best, but the only thing they can control is their own games at this point.
And after dropping two games in a row to two-win teams at home, the Steelers finally righted the ship against the Cincinnati Bengals. In doing so, they avoided their first home losing record in decades, now finishing the season 5-4 on home soil.
The last time the Steelers had lost more games than they won in their own stadium was before Heinz Field even existed. Back in 1999, during a 6-10 season under head coach Bill Cowher, they went 2-6 at Three Rivers Stadium. Since then, they have never won fewer than four home games or lost more than four.
That streak continues in 2023, the Steelers now 8-7 on the season with two games left to play. Their final two games will be on the road, where they are 3-3, against the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens.
While their current playoff projections range from the high single digits to the low teens, the simple fact of the matter is that they needed to win this game. They managed to do that in commanding fashion, putting up 34 points, their first win to top 30-plus points in far too long—years.
Every team thrives on home cooking, but few as much as the Steelers. The latest win was head coach Mike Tomlin’s 97th at home against 40 losses since taking over the job in 2007, the third-most in the NFL in that span. Only the New England Patriots (104) and the Green Bay Packers (102) have more home victories in the regular season in that time.
With a 97-40-1 home record, Tomlin has a home winning percentage of .707, certainly impressive. He was looking to be well on his way to a typical home finish in 2023 before dropping two embarrassing games earlier this month.
Indeed, his team became the first with a winning record in NFL history to lose to multiple opponents who were eight games or more under .500 at the time. They lost within a five-day span to the 2-10 Arizona Cardinals and then the 2-10 Patriots.
And both former 2017 Pro Bowl draft picks of theirs played key roles in those wins. Third-round RB James Conner was the engine that drove the Cardinals’ offense, while second-round WR JuJu Smith-Schuster made multiple key plays for a Patriots offense that had just benched its starting quarterback.
While the win and the 5-4 home record doesn’t change much in the grand scheme of things, it did halt a treacherous three-game slide that had the vultures out and ready to eat. Would Tomlin be traded? Would Tomlin be fired? At the very least, the Steelers can enjoy their Christmas a little more after this one. They can face their bleak postseason prospects when they get back on Tuesday.
