If you want to be the best, you gotta beat the best. Right now, the Pittsburgh Steelers are getting bested instead. Outclassed by the Philadelphia Eagles and outmatched by the Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers are looking to salvage a tough three-game stretch with a Christmas Day win against the Kansas City Chiefs. If they want to be viewed like the Super Bowl contenders they were once considered to be, they must prove they can do more than beat up on struggling division opponents. That’s the case Kyle Brandt made on Wednesday’s Good Morning Football.
“I just heard Russell Wilson say the championship teams find a way. Is this a championship team? Because what championship teams do not do is lose three in a row in December. You do not lose to Baltimore, Philly, and Kansas City all in a row,” Brandt said. “That’s a tough streak. I understand it. Those are all title contenders. You can’t go zero for three. Then you’re not a title contender.”
Brandt’s point is fair. Tough as these games and circumstances are, championship teams don’t use excuses as a crutch. They find a way to overcome. That’s what the 2005 Super Bowl team did, the first six seed to ever run the table with three-straight road wins en route to the Steelers’ fifth Lombardi. In 2008, they took down a pair of quality teams in the Baltimore Ravens (a top-five defense that year) and the Arizona Cardinals (a top-five offense that season).
Unfortunately, three-game skids are all-too common for the Steelers. They’ve gone six-straight seasons with at least one during the course of their regular season, a remarkable feat considering they’ve gone .500 or better in all of those years. Last year, they had a similar December bottoming out, losing to the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots, and Indianapolis Colts before recovering and winning their final three games.
Brandt predicts the Steelers to right the ship today.
“I think the Pittsburgh Steelers should look to win this game,” he said. “And given what I think Kansas City’s got going on schedule-wise, a team that never loses. Screw it, it’s Christmas. I think Pittsburgh’s gonna win this game today and they’re gonna beat the Chiefs. And the Chiefs will have loss number two. And then they’ll figure it out in the last week of the season.”
Health is more favorable to the Steelers. WR George Pickens and SS DeShon Elliott are among several players expected to return. On the other side, the Chiefs are expected to be without stud DT Chris Jones while dealing with more offensive line injuries.
Beating Kansas City would boost the team’s odds of winning the AFC North though another win in Week 18 would be required to officially secure first place. But a win would do more than that. It would show Pittsburgh, at its best, is capable of beating anyone, a proof of concept of what the Steelers can do in the playoffs. If not, then they’ll be considered a Tier 2 team just happy to be in the Wild Card, not a Super Bowl contender.
