After the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 44-38 on the road last week, a lot more analysts and national media figures are starting to believe in their ability to make a run in the playoffs and possibly appear in or even win the Super Bowl.
Hall of Fame S Charles Woodson now joins that rank with a glowing endorsement of the Steelers during FOX NFL Kickoff on Sunday.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers and Super Bowl. I don’t think those two entities are talked in the same sentence enough, and this team really, I think, has a chance to be one of those teams to make it to the Super Bowl,” Woodson said in a clip posted on X. “What do you need to do that? You need a quarterback who’s done it before? Got one. You need a head coach that has done it before, been to two, won one. Then you need your defense, right?
He then lays out the case for why the Steelers can knock off each of the other AFC contenders. For the Kansas City Chiefs, their offense has been shaky, and the Steelers’ defense can help power them through that game. The Steelers almost always take care of business against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Then for the Bills, if they have an explosion of points on offense, the Steelers just proved they can win in a shootout against Joe Burrow and the Bengals.
The Steelers have also been excellent at limiting the impact of mobile quarterbacks, which all of those teams have, and the Steelers have a perfect 5-0 record against teams with winning records. They will have a chance to add to that with upcoming games against the Philadelphia Eagles, Chiefs, and Ravens. We should have a great idea of what kind of playoff team the Steelers are by the time that’s all done.
Woodson isn’t the only one thinking of a Black and Gold Super Bowl. Tony Romo called them one of his favorites for the Super Bowl right now, via The NFL Today on CBS.
All three phases are clicking right now. The offense is now in the top 10 for scoring, the defense is in seventh for scoring allowed, and the special teams group is ranked No. 1 by ESPN analytics in efficiency.
All of the ingredients are in place to make a run in the playoffs, so it’s no wonder that Super Bowl talk is starting to come in vogue. But until they start to stack wins in the playoffs when it really matters, all of this is cheap talk.
