The Pittsburgh Steelers entered the season with hopes of making the playoffs. The Steelers are a team that remains competitive year in and year out. With that in mind, those hopes are more realistic than they are for many franchises across the NFL landscape. The Steelers have already reached that goal, solidifying their spot in the playoffs a few weeks ago.
However, the Steelers are admittedly in a bit of a slide. Pittsburgh once had a 10-3 record and a two-game advantage in the AFC North. Since then, things have slowly started to drift out of Pittsburgh’s control. The Steelers have lost two straight to the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens. Now, they’re tied with Baltimore in the division and have to get some wins to end the year if they want a playoff game at Acrisure Stadium.
Making the playoffs is fun. Losing in the playoffs is not. Pittsburgh’s been a frequent visitor to the big dance over the past couple of decades. However, there hasn’t been much success once the Steelers get to the playoffs. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio foresees a similar situation happening to end the 2024 season. In a preview video for the Steelers’ matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, Florio stated that he thinks the divisional round is the furthest the Steelers can go in the playoffs.
“Now they’re [Steelers] feeling like a team that maybe advances to the divisional round if they get a home game in the wild-card round,” Florio said. “If they get a home game in that round, they can maybe win it, play renegade, terrible towels, we get the win. And then you go on the road, and that may be their ceiling. Divisional round may be their ceiling, the way they’ve played the last couple of weeks.”
Florio seems critical, but it’s not an unfair assessment. Earlier in the year, the Steelers were starting to convince some in the media that they might be Super Bowl contenders. After back-to-back road losses against playoff teams, that tune seems to be changing.
That said, Pittsburgh can change the tide with a massive win on Christmas day. The Steelers are returning home, and while they’ve obviously got a tough matchup against the Chiefs, they will have George Pickens on the field for the first time in three weeks.
Florio does think the Steelers could win a home playoff game in the wild-card round. If they managed that, it would be Pittsburgh’s first playoff win since the 2016 season. That would be a nice change of pace, considering the Steelers’ playoff losses in recent memory. This team has expectations that are much higher than that, though. If they want to start convincing the rest of the football world they’ve got a higher ceiling, that would start with a win today.
