Welcome to your weekly Pittsburgh Steelers “stat pack,” five numbers you need to know to get ready for the upcoming game against the Cincinnati Bengals. They could relate to the opponent or the Steelers themselves and could involve an individual, unit, or something else. All to help you become the smartest fan for gameday.
1988
Not a stat but year. That’s the last time the Cleveland Browns swept the Pittsburgh Steelers, 1988 when Chuck Noll was the Steelers’ head coach. That year, the 5-11 Steelers showed little life throughout the year and were dominated by Cleveland in both games. Pittsburgh fell 23-9 in Week 5 before losing again 27-7 in Week 12.
1988 is also the last time the Steelers finished last in their division in the AFC Central.
19
As in, the number of times Pittsburgh has scored at least 20 points in their last 20 regular season home games against Cleveland. The only exception came in a 14-3 win on a Thursday night in 2011 when an even-more injured than usual Ben Roethlisberger limped his way to a win.
Pittsburgh has won 20 straight regular season home games against Cleveland.
26.4
The average number of points the Pittsburgh Steelers have scored after a 40-plus regular season performance in the Mike Tomlin era. In nine of those 11 instances, the Steelers scored at least 20 points, and they scored 30-plus points four times. Only once did they have repeat 40-point performances. After beating the Indianapolis Colts 51-34 in Week 8 of 2014, they knocked off the Baltimore Ravens 43-29 in Week 9.
Their worst outputs were one 12 and a pair of 13-point performances.
8.7
Russell Wilson’s yards-per-attempt this season. If it holds, it’ll easily be the highest mark of his career besting the previous top figure of 8.3 he set with the Seattle Seahawks in 2015. Entering Week 14, Wilson’s number was the second-best in the league, only trailing the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff (8.8).
A wild stat given the expectations for Wilson this year, especially after spending the first six weeks on the bench.
71, 35
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ percentage of winning the AFC North if they win or lose this game. If they beat the Browns, it’s 71 percent per the New York Times’ calculator. If they lose to Cleveland, those odds drop to 35 percent. The latter still feels too low given that Pittsburgh would still be 9-4 over the 8-5 Baltimore Ravens (who are on a bye week), though a tough schedule understandably reduces the Steelers’ odds.
Frankly, the odds feel higher than 71 percent if Pittsburgh moves and advances to 10-3.
