Though things are rather rough in the midst of a three-game losing streak, and much of the shine from earlier in the season is now off the Pittsburgh Steelers, at least one analyst still views the Black and Gold as a dangerous team in the AFC playoffs.
ESPN’s Benjamin Solak highlighted the Steelers as one of his three dangerous Wild Card teams, along with the Green Bay Packers and the loser of the NFC North, whether that’s the Minnesota Vikings or the Detroit Lions.
That’s some good company for the Steelers to be in, though it’s understandable if you feel they might not deserve it considering their recent play.
But for Solak, the Steelers are much better than what their play has shown lately.
“The past three games for the Steelers have been perhaps the most brutal stretch of any team this regular season: at Philadelphia, short week, at Baltimore, short week, vs. Kansas City. In that span, they saw absences from star wide receiver George Pickens, defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, cornerback Joey Porter Jr., cornerback Donte Jackson and safety DeShon Elliott. Oh, and T.J. Watt is clearly hurt, even if he isn’t missing time,” Solak writes for ESPN.com. “Now there isn’t a fairy godmother to wave a magic wand and make everyone healthy in the postseason; the Steelers are going to have to carry some of these nagging injuries with them.
“But I’m confident that Pittsburgh is a better team than recent memory is telling us.”
The injuries that piled up late in the season, coupled with the three-games-in-11-days stretch was rather brutal for the Steelers. It really hindered them on both sides of the football and played a part in the slide. Of course, all teams are dealing with injuries this late in the season, so it’s not a true excuse, but it is reality that it hindered the Steelers.
Now, with the brutal stretch behind them and having enjoyed a mini-bye week leading up to their Week 18 finale against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Steelers are well-rested and starting to get healthy.
That will be big entering the playoffs, as the Steelers showed when they are healthy that they are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. That might be hard to envision right now with the three-game losing streak — and in blowout fashion — lingering, but the Steelers were rolling along rather well earlier in the season.
Once in the playoffs, that’s another discussion entirely as the Steelers have struggled in the last half decade under Mike Tomlin in the postseason. But if there is a team to break the one-and-done streak in the playoffs for the Black and Gold, it’s this one.
“And even though Tomlin has lost in the postseason recently, we’re still talking about a dynamite situational coach with a playmaking defense and a great special teams unit. Tomlin has proved over his long career that he is good at winning close games and overachieving as an underdog,” Solak writes. “Pittsburgh will be offensively outclassed in every postseason game it plays, but the AFC is a sneakily weak conference. Kansas City just beat the Steelers 29-10 — for its biggest margin of victory on the season. The Bills’ defense is highly suspect, and the Ravens have historically struggled with Tomlin’s Steelers.
“If it comes down to fourth-quarter drives and last-second field goals, Pittsburgh is deserving of a disproportionate amount of our faith.”
In those instances that Solak laid out — close game, fourth quarter, down to the wire — the Steelers should get some faith there. They’ve shown they can win those types of games time and time again. Now, getting to that point in games in the playoffs against explosive teams is another task entirely, but if the Steelers find themselves in those moments, look out.
With a defense that has been great more often than not this season, and special teams that can create splash plays through blocked kicks, forced fumbles or a return for a touchdown, the Steelers are dangerous. They just need to get back on track offensively to play some complementary football.
Do that, and the Steelers could make some noise.
