The seventh seed as a practicality has only existed for going on four seasons. The NFL expanded the postseason in time for the 2020 season, adding a third wild-card team to each conference, bringing the total number of teams that qualify each year to 14, seven per conference.
For the second time in four seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the seventh seed in the AFC. They were blown out the last time, losing 42-21 to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021 in a game that probably wasn’t even as close as the score indicates. After an early scoop-and-score touchdown by T.J. Watt, the Chiefs scored five consecutive touchdowns.
A couple of other seventh seeds have come closer, but none have achieved victory before. Although it’s a small sample size as yet, with only eight seventh seeds having played a game, the Steelers will try to make NFL history Sunday by becoming the first to win a playoff game.
Their opponent is the Buffalo Bills, a team that has won in the postseason for three consecutive years and is the defending AFC East champion for four. They almost lost in the Wild Card Round last year, however, against the seventh-seeded Miami Dolphins, the team they needed to beat in Week 18 to secure the second seed—otherwise they would have been the seventh seed.
They only won by three points, 34-31. After jumping out to an early 17-0 lead, they allowed the Dolphins to score 17 unanswered, Miami eventually going ahead 24-20 before Buffalo scored two more touchdowns. Miami added another touchdown early in the fourth quarter but could not make it past midfield on its final two drives, turning the ball over on downs with 2:22 to play.
While it didn’t turn out that way, the Seattle Seahawks as the seventh seed a year ago led the San Francisco 49ers 17-16 at halftime before the second-seeded 49ers piled on 25 unanswered points. The final score was 41-23 when all was said and done.
The Bills were also on the other end of the only other close game by a seventh seed, in the first game played by a seventh seed back in 2020. They only beat the Indianapolis Colts by a field goal, having trailed 10-7 early on.
But after scoring 17 unanswered, the Colts added two touchdowns sandwiched in between a Bills field goal in the fourth quarter to make it a three-point game. Indianapolis reached the Bills’ 47-yard line before turning the ball over on downs as time expired.
So I guess that’s good news and bad news. Twice the Bills have defeated a seventh seed, but it was competitive both times. No seventh seed has yet won a game, but as mentioned earlier, the sample size is still very small.
The other seventh seed this year is the Green Bay Packers, who will play the Dallas Cowboys after the Steelers and Bills play on Sunday afternoon. So if they do manage to win, it will well and truly be a first in NFL history.
