We’ve now reached the halfway point of the NFL season. The trade deadline has just passed, which is a pretty significant point on the NFL calendar. Right about now, most teams know what they’re made of, whether that’s contending for the playoffs or firing up the draft simulators. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, they seem destined for the playoffs, whether that be as the winner of the AFC North or a wild-card team.
We’re finally starting to get a clearer picture of what the playoffs might look like. NFL.com released an article on Wednesday, in which its analysts update their predictions in terms of divisional winners and wild-card candidates. For the Steelers, there were a couple of interesting parts. The first of which is that the Ravens were predicted to edge out the Steelers in the AFC North.
“The Ravens have an unforgiving second-half schedule (their next four opponents are a combined 21-8) and sit at 3-3 in the conference and 0-1 in the division,” the NFL website wrote. “But as challenging as their road appears, Pittsburgh’s looks that much worse.”
It’s hard to argue with this logic. It’s not easy for the Ravens by any means, but they only have two likely wins remaining on their schedule. Those matchups are against the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns. AFC North matchups tend to get interesting though, so the Browns might not be that easy either. However, the Steelers’ remaining schedule is arguably worse. Both teams have six wins, but the Ravens have looked dominant for most of the year. The Steelers could certainly prove them wrong, but it’s not like this is coming out of left field.
The website did give Pittsburgh some credit though. The Steelers are ranked as the second-most likely wild-card team in the AFC. They were slightly beat out by the Los Angeles Chargers, who received 57 votes, just ahead of Pittsburgh’s 56. Behind the Steelers were the Cincinnati Bengals with 38, and the Denver Broncos with five.
It makes sense that Pittsburgh’s viewed as a lock for the AFC Wild Card round. Looking at the AFC right now, even if the Steelers win just four of their final nine games, that would leave them with 10 wins. That seems like enough, given that the Bengals are the next most likely wild-card team behind Pittsburgh, and they have a losing record.
One thing seems sure: postseason football will be in the air in Pittsburgh this year.
