The Pittsburgh Steelers’ chances of winning the division and hosting a playoff game for the first time since 2020 have plummeted from over 80 percent all the way down to a nearly 50-50 toss up. The Baltimore Ravens evened up the head-to-head series for the year and the Steelers now have a 55-percent chance of winning the division following a two-game losing streak.
Despite the losses, former NFL head coach Herm Edwards still believes they will win the AFC North and contend in the playoffs.
“Pittsburgh Steelers,” Edwards said when asked who will win the division via ESPN’s SportsCenter. “Even though they lost this game, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are set right now in the fact that they have a very good football team, especially defensively. They take the ball away, they don’t give up a lot of points. And they have a quarterback in Russell Wilson that has a lot of playoff experience.”
The Steelers have a slight edge over the Ravens in the division race because of their conference record. As long as they end with the same record and they both win or lose to the AFC North opponents in Week 18, the Steelers will still get their hat and t-shirt. It just won’t be for a couple more weeks.
The Steelers’ recent loss streak coincides with a rash of injuries. Every team is dealing with injuries this time of year, but the Steelers suffered a high volume of key injuries all within a two-week span. S DeShon Elliott, CB Donte Jackson, CB Joey Porter Jr., DL Larry Ogunjobi, and WR George Pickens have all been unavailable for some or all of the past two weeks.
The offense was barely able to operate without Pickens for the first two weeks. They finally figured it out a bit against the Ravens with 315 yards of total offense and two touchdowns in the passing game. Calvin Austin III stepped up in a big way.
The past two weeks have also been the toughest two on the schedule with a pair of road games against elite teams. The Steelers can still be that team that everybody was excited about just two weeks ago. They just need to focus on getting healthy and cleaning up some of the self-inflicted wounds during games. If they can win the division and host a game in the playoffs, they will still be a threat to make a deep playoff run.
