As the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to face the Cleveland Browns, Ryan Clark put it succinctly on ESPN’s First Take: “It ain’t a must win, but it’s a you better win.” This underscores the high stakes for a team looking to solidify its standing as a contender
The Steelers find themselves with a 1.5-game cushion over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North, and with the Ravens on their bye week, the first-place Steelers have an opportunity to put the division further out of reach with a win over the Browns Sunday.
The Steelers haven’t mathematically clinched a spot in the playoffs, but it’d take a monumental collapse to fall out of wild-card contention altogether. That’s why it’s not a must-win game, but they’d better win if they want to be taken seriously entering the playoffs as a contender.
Too often the Steelers have limped their way into the playoffs or made the final push needing some outside help to get in. Those teams were never going to make noise in the playoffs, but this one has a chance.
“Once you start getting into these ‘must-win games’, you’re talking about playoff positioning, will you get there?” Clark said. “This isn’t about that anymore. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s about positioning yourself now amongst the Kansas City Chiefs, amongst the Buffalo Bills. And those sorts of teams won’t allow the Cleveland Browns to come into their home and win.”
The Steelers haven’t been swept by the Browns since 1988. Suffering the indignity Sunday would be an ominous sign for a team that seems to finally have things figured out, and the Browns would like nothing more than to sow that doubt against their biggest rival.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are 9-3, well above where everybody thought they’d be at this point of the season. Some outlets thought they’d struggle to have a winning record, let alone compete for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. They’ve earned the right to be talked about, but that right can be stripped away by getting swept by one of the league’s bottom feeders.
It goes beyond just the optics of it all. A loss by the Steelers to the 3-9 Browns would open the door back up for the Ravens to win the division. The Ravens and Steelers would share control of their destiny to win the division title, and the Ravens have a much friendlier schedule than the Steelers do over the final stretch.
“The other years that we’re talking about, ‘Oh, Mike T.’s never had a losing season’ I knew that would be an unsuccessful team,” Clark said. “Cause the only successful team is the one that wins the Super Bowl. I knew that those teams weren’t gonna make any noise. I’m starting to believe that this one can with the way that they play defense, with the way that Najee Harris and Jaylen [Warren] is coming along. And so now I want to see, can you take that next step where you don’t play down to opponents and can be with the elite?”
Some might view Ryan Clark as a homer because he played for the Steelers and think that him starting to believe in the team isn’t a big deal, but he’s been openly critical about the team when it’s deserved. He isn’t one to put on the Black and Gold-colored glasses for his television takes.
The Steelers have had issues throughout Mike Tomlin’s tenure of losing to bad football teams. Some of their seasons have been spoiled in the past by the fact that they lost to a two-win New York Jets team or a three-win Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. So far, the Steelers have a 5-0 record against teams with winning records. But they also have three losses to teams to teams that have combined for a 14-23 record this season.
The Browns game this Sunday isn’t a must win, but boy does it feel like a lot is riding on correcting their mistake by the lake from just a couple weeks ago.
