Many fans understandably don’t have much hope for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. Considering they’ve lost their last three games, and none of them have been particularly close, that makes sense. However, the Steelers have an opportunity to change some people’s minds in Week 18. Rich Eisen is curious if Steelers fans would feel better about the team if they beat the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Beating the Bengals at home and saying, ‘They’re done,’ going into the playoffs, heading off to Houston, you wouldn’t feel good about that?” Eisen said recently on his show. “Or you’d be sitting there saying, ‘Damn, we lost three games in 11 days to teams that we’re gonna have to beat to make the Super Bowl. They beat us. We’re clearly not as good as them. So what?’
“Is that really the way it’s gonna be in Pittsburgh? Is that really gonna be the mindset in Western PA?”
Eisen asks a valid question that doesn’t have a right answer. It all depends on how a person would view the Steelers if they do beat the Bengals. The manner in which they capture victory would also likely influence opinions on the Steelers.
Say, for example, that the Steelers beat the Bengals in a similar fashion to the first time the two teams squared off this year. In that matchup, the Steelers won a shootout, with Russell Wilson having a phenomenal day. Their defense had some lapses, but they also forced several turnovers. It was a good showing from their team as a whole.
Would that be enough to inspire some hope in fans? The argument could be made that the Bengals’ defense is awful, and the Steelers’ offense wouldn’t be able to replicate that performance in the playoffs. That was a common opinion after the last Steelers-Bengals game.
However, that version of the Steelers had also won nine of their 12 games. Getting back to that would be a nice way to wash the taste of the last month out of their mouths. The Bengals may be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs, but they do not lack talent. Beating them to close out the year would be a step in the right direction for the Steelers.
In that scenario, the Steelers would also likely travel to face the Houston Texans in the first round of the playoffs. That’s not exactly an opponent as daunting as the Baltimore Ravens or Kansas City Chiefs. The Texans have been good enough to win their division, but their team doesn’t look as good as it did last year.
Therefore, it wouldn’t be wrong to believe in the Steelers if they beat the Bengals. Yes, they fell to some better competition, but that doesn’t automatically mean they have no chance in the playoffs. Maybe they aren’t Super Bowl contenders, but if they’re in the playoffs, they have a chance. First, they have to take care of business with the Bengals.
