The Pittsburgh Steelers were never even close to expected to win Monday’s wild-card game versus the Buffalo Bills. Indeed, the home-team Bills were favored by a touchdown and a field goal. While the game was delayed by a day, it didn’t take long for Buffalo to set the tone, going up 14-0 early.
And it’s a good thing Steelers fans have grown accustomed to upsetting postseason losses, because the trend continued to conclude the 2023 season, marking their fifth consecutive going back to 2016. Since beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round that year, Pittsburgh has known only defeat in the playoffs.
From the 36-17 blowout to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game that followed to Monday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Steelers’ five consecutive postseason losses are now the second-longest active streak in the NFL. The only longer streak is owned by the Miami Dolphins, who lost their sixth consecutive game this weekend.
It was the Detroit Lions who owned the longest active streak in the NFL going into this weekend before finally getting the nine-game monkey off their backs on Sunday, defeating the Los Angeles Rams for their first postseason win in three decades.
The Steelers are now tied for the second-longest streak, with the Lions’ ending, with the Washington Commanders, who did not make the playoffs this year. It also extends their franchise record for the longest postseason streak defeat, the previous long having been only three games.
They previously lost consecutive playoff games in 1972-73, 76-77, 79-82-83, 98-92-93, 05-07, 10-11-14, and then most recently, 16-17-20-21-23. This marks the fourth losing streak of three-plus games, and the first, ongoing, of more than three.
As we’ve previously written, this also marks the Steelers’ 13th one-and-done postseason run in the modern playoff era, beginning with the first Super Bowl season in 1966. That is tied for the fifth-most one-and-done runs in NFL history, behind the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings (15) and the Indianapolis Colts and the Kansas City Chiefs (14), tied with the Dolphins, who had their 13th one-and-done run this year, capping their sixth consecutive postseason defeat.
The Steelers have now gone seven straight seasons without winning a postseason game, extending their own franchise record for the longest such drought in modern playoff history. Of course, they never won a postseason game before 1972, but the modern playoff era only began in 1966 and the merger only took place a few years later.
Needless to say, a postseason win is long overdue, but the odds were always long this year. That the Steelers even made the postseason itself is an achievement, and as we discussed at the top, they were never expected to win in the first place. But they didn’t have to get blown out again.
