The Pittsburgh Steelers controlled their destiny, especially over the Baltimore Ravens, from the very beginning—until suddenly they didn’t. The entire AFC North other than the Steelers lost in Week 1, and for most of the season, they owned first place in the division. At no point had they ever owned a worse record than another division opponent—until Christmas evening. And it sucked.
By then the Steelers had dropped their third game in a row and the Ravens had won their third. That is when the Steelers relinquished control over the AFC North. While they have secured a playoff spot already, they are very unlikely to host a playoff game. It is the immense squandering of a golden opportunity to get off the postseason schneid, the repercussions of which are yet to be determined.
The season suddenly flipped during “the gauntlet” and the discrepancy between how the Steelers and Ravens handled it. The Ravens dominated—the Steelers took the domination. After keeping losses close all season, they were blown out three times in a row.
The collective loss is staggering, in fact, especially in contrast. Over the last three times, the Steelers have been outscored 90-40. The Ravens in the same span, which includes a win over the Steelers, have outscored their opponents 100-33.
And now the Ravens just have to beat a Dorian Thompson-Robinson-led Cleveland Browns team to earn the AFC’s No. 3 seed. For a team that started 0-2, including a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, that’s not too shabby. But the road there was oh so very long. And oh so confounding for the Steelers now that we near the end.
Having spent the past few months in control of their fate, the Steelers are back in the position of needing unlikely help. This time, at least, they are already in the postseason. But they need to beat the Bengals, and they need the Browns to beat the Ravens to win the division.
It was always going to be tough for the Steelers to escape this three-game stretch unbloodied. But they hardly even looked competitive through long stretches while the Ravens looked championship caliber. These are two teams trending in opposite directions, and they are now at a crossroads.
Maybe it’s because of the arc of the schedule that this feels like such a gut punch. Most viewed the Steelers as no better than a 10- to 11-win team at best at the start of the season. Had they lost to the Chiefs in September, the Eagles in December, and the Ravens in November, would we feel the same? Because that’s what the Ravens did, only switching themselves out for the Steelers.
The Ravens lost to the Chiefs in the season opener, then to the Steelers in mid-November. On the 1st of December, they fell to the Eagles. But both the Ravens and Steelers are in nearly the same spot, within one win of each other.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. The Steelers have lost more games than the Ravens, and that’s what makes the difference. It doesn’t matter when they lost those games, or even how. Not practically, anyway, but psychologically, it does. The Steelers spent all season pacing the division, and now they’ve spun out. The Ravens are speeding past them with the white flag giving way to checkered. And we’re very nearly at the end, in more ways than one.
