Heading into Week 17, there were still many different directions the 2023 season could go for the Pittsburgh Steelers. While there is still much to be determined, including their ultimate playoff fate, we do know a few things. We know they are still alive heading into the finale. We know they will have a winning season.
And we know they will not finish last in the division, continuing a streak that stretches for decades—for whatever it might be worth to you. They have never finished in last place in the AFC North, which was created in 2002. Previously part of the defunct AFC Central, the last time the Steelers finished at the bottom of the divisional standings was in 1989.
The Baltimore Ravens’ Week 15 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars assured that the Steelers could not win the division, since it was Baltimore’s 11th win and Pittsburgh by then could not achieve 11 victories. The Cleveland Browns, now at 11-5, recently achieved the feat of finishing ahead of the Steelers in the standings for the first time in 34 years.
But with the Steelers’ win over the Seattle Seahawks today and the Cincinnati Bengals’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh is assured to finish third in the division ahead of Cincinnati. The Steelers are now 9-7, the Bengals 8-8, and the latter cannot win the tiebreaker even if they win and Pittsburgh loses next week because the Steelers won the season series 2-0.
As a matter of fact, the day’s proceedings resulted in the Bengals being officially eliminated from postseason contention. They had won the AFC North in each of the past two seasons and represented the conference in the Super Bowl in 2021. They reached the conference finals in 2022 as well, but they had to play much of this season without QB Joe Burrow.
The Steelers are still in contention for the postseason. They must play the Ravens in the finale, but Baltimore is likely to rest a number of starters, making it a somewhat less daunting but still not promising task. They must also get help with losses by either the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Buffalo Bills, among other scenarios, in order to get the help needed to secure either the sixth or seventh seed. Cleveland is locked into the top AFC Wild-Card spot.
With the Steelers guaranteed to finish third in the division, that also means they will be playing the third-place schedule in 2024. The exact teams are yet to be determined of course, but they will play the third-place teams of the AFC South and East and the NFC South.
