While the Pittsburgh Steelers’ victory Sunday didn’t lock up a playoff spot for themselves, it did accomplish that feat for another team. By virtue of the Steelers defeating the Seattle Seahawks, the Los Angeles Rams’ own victory on Sunday assured themselves of a postseason berth as a Wild Card out of the NFC West.
The two divisional rivals entered Week 17 tied at 8-7, though the Rams had a clean 2-0 sweep against Seattle in their head-to-head series, so Los Angeles controlled its destiny anyway. But now that they are a game ahead of Seattle in the standings, it doesn’t matter what happens in Week 18. They’re already in.
And they made sure to show their appreciation, thanking the Steelers for ensuring their postseason berth. They did it as we seem to do everything these days in our culture, in meme form on social media, in this case their official Twitter profile.
The Rams—having updated their Twitter name with an x preceding Los Angeles Rams that signifies an earned postseason berth—posted an image of Tiger Woods. He is wearing a poorly photoshopped Rams hat as he goes to shake hands with someone, the captain reading, “Big dog”. The image is accompanied with the text, “Seeing Steelers fans this week”.
In other words, Rams fans ought to show their appreciation to Steelers fans for their team helping Los Angeles lock up a playoff spot. It is their first time back since winning the Super Bowl over the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021, finishing last season 5-12.
As for the Steelers, well, they unfortunately still need help, so their social media manager is hoping to have a similar image to post on Sunday—assuming they manage to win their own game on Saturday. Is there a big dog for Pittsburgh?
Like the Rams, Pittsburgh has not been back to the postseason since 2021, but unlike the Rams, the Steelers were embarrassed straight out of the first round, losing 42-21 to the Kansas City Chiefs. They already trailed 35-7 10 minutes into the third quarter.
In fact, Pittsburgh’s last three postseason games have gone horribly wrong. They haven’t won one since the 2016 season when they reached the conference finals. Yet they are still alive. It seems to be an annual tradition now for them to be slightly above .500 and needing help in the final game to get into the postseason.
After dropping three games in a row, they have now won two straight with Mason Rudolph at quarterback. Not only that, they have scored at least 30 points in both games and are averaging comfortably over 400 yards per game.
Is it possible that at the end of the season they have stumbled upon a team that can win in the playoffs? The only problem may be actually managing to get there. I trust their Week 18 opponent, the Baltimore Ravens, will be resting starters, including QB Lamar Jackson, after locking up the top seed. But even if the Steelers win, they’ll need help.
