The NFL announced that the Pittsburgh Steelers will play their final regular-season game on Saturday in the primetime slot. Preceding the game will be the Baltimore Ravens, whose game affects the Steelers’ playoff seeding. If the Ravens win, the Steelers will lose out on the AFC North title.
And the Ravens play the Browns, so the chances of the Steelers winning the AFC North seem rather low. It’s unclear why the NFL decided to schedule a game that so much impacts another before, but that’s what it did. The Steelers could very well kick off their game knowing they lost the division.
Even if that is the case—and it is the betting favorite—they still have something to play for. As of now, the Steelers can be either the No. 3, 5, or 6 seeds. Only the first option as AFC North champions is accompanied by a home game. But the difference being the fifth or sixth seed could also be huge.
And the only way the Steelers can ensure they are the fifth and not the sixth seed is by winning. If they are the fifth seed—the top AFC Wild Card team—they will play a down-trending Houston Texans team. If they lose and the Chargers sneak into the top Wild Card spot, then they will have to play the Ravens.
And after what happened the last time the Steelers played in Baltimore, that doesn’t feel so comforting anymore. They had beaten the Ravens eight out of nine times, but don’t expect to see another such run any time soon.
Both the Steelers and Chargers enter Week 18 with a 10-6 record. The Denver Broncos are no longer in the mix after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Steelers can still claim the fifth seed if they lose, provided that the Chargers also lose to the Raiders in Las Vegas.
The only division-winning seed not yet clinched in the AFC is the North. The Steelers or Ravens will be the No. 3 seed, the Bills having clinched the No. 2 seed. You already know what the Steelers need to advance with a home game, so I won’t write it again.
The Wild Card seeds, however, are very much in flux, and even the Bengals and Dolphins are still alive. The Steelers cannot be the seventh seed because they are guaranteed to have a better record or tiebreakers over the other teams that could potentially finish 10-7.
So if they don’t win the AFC North, it’s either the fifth or sixth seeds. That might not feel like much if the Ravens already secure the division before the Steelers kick off, but it very well could be. Would you rather play the Ravens in Baltimore right now or the Texans in Houston?
