Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers squandered a golden opportunity to lock up the AFC North Saturday. Had they beaten the Baltimore Ravens, the division race would be over. Because they could not pull through, it will go down to the wire, until Week 18.
While they are already in the postseason, the Steelers still have the division title to play for. In that sense, they are already in playoff mode, with two one-game seasons to end the year. It’s not quite sudden death, but they have to keep pace with the Ravens. That means they can’t start looking ahead to the finale or looking at the bigger picture.
“We can’t worry about the next two”, Russell Wilson said about the Steelers’ focus being squarely on the Chiefs. “We’ve just got to worry about this next one coming up. We play on Wednesday. It’s gonna be a great environment, coming back home in front of our fans. Obviously, we’ve been on the road the past two weeks, so to play in front of our fans with the Terrible Towels and all that on Christmas Day is a special day. It’s gonna be a great battle”.
The Steelers are on a two-game losing streak after starting the season 10-3. They locked up a playoff berth, even in a loss, because of their earlier success, but they are now in the hardest portion of their schedule. And they are weathering some of their toughest injury luck at the same time.
Now they have to face the two-time defending Super Bowl champions who have reinforcements. Kansas City is dealing with injuries, too. But the Steelers will also be seeing a motivated team, as the Chiefs still have to secure the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
“The best thing we can do is keep our head up”, Russell Wilson said of the Steelers’ path forward, amid the recent skid. “The best thing we can do is understand that the best days are ahead. We really believe that and who we are”.
While Wilson is Mr. Positivity, he had arguably his worst game with the Steelers last week. At least, he had his costliest performance with two backbreaking turnovers. First, he fumbled inside the 5-yard line, leading to a 96-yard touchdown drive to follow. Then he threw a pick-six with the Steelers trailing by seven in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach.
The thing is, if Russell Wilson doesn’t do that, the Steelers are very much in that game. I think that’s why Wilson is as optimistic as he is because he knows he can play cleaner. And we know he can play cleaner because he has. In the first instance, the Steelers were about to take the lead, quite possibly with a touchdown. In the second, they had a legitimate chance to tie, having already made that big mistake earlier. Will playing at home help them get back on track?
