The Pittsburgh Steelers are 10-3 with four games to play and are 7-1 in their last eight. They have only made it to 10-3 one-third of the time under Mike Tomlin, and not since 2020. At the moment, they are in the driver’s seat in the AFC North with the AFC’s No. 1 seed is still in play. While they would need help, they could help their own cause by beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day.
The Steelers started off 4-2 while working with backup QB Justin Fields, but they have taken off since Russell Wilson returned from injury. Since his Steelers debut, they are 6-1, one of the hottest teams in the league. And they have shown the ability to win in a variety of ways—even in a shootout, which is big. So what does that success mean?
“It just means we’re not done yet. We’ve got to keep responding”, Wilson said via the Steelers’ website. “We’re doing good things, and we want to do great things. We’re looking forward to the opportunity of what’s ahead of us. That’s this week, going to Philly. It’s gonna be a great game, great matchup. I’ve been to Philly a bunch”.
There is good and bad news on that front. The Steelers haven’t beaten the Eagles in Philadelphia since the pre-Chuck Noll days. On the other hand, Russell Wilson is very good against the Eagles in the City of Brotherly Love. And this is his first game in Philadelphia with the Steelers, so something has to give.
The Steelers are 0-9 in their last nine road games against the Eagles. Their most recent road loss to the Eagles came in 2022, and it wasn’t pretty. But Russell Wilson is 5-0 against the Eagles over the course of his career, 3-0 in Philadelphia. He last played them, on the road, in 2020, winning 23-17.
Over his career, Russell Wilson is 95-of-155 against the Eagles for 1,192 yards and eight touchdowns to one interception. He has thrown for at least 200 yards in every game—he even caught a touchdown pass against them. Surprisingly, Wilson doesn’t have a touchdown catch yet with the Steelers, though he has one rushing.
In actuality, the Steelers’ game against the Eagles is their least important remaining one, as they are from Russell Wilson’s old conference. If they had to lose one more game, it would be most advantageous to be this one. Of their other three remaining games, two are in the division, the other against the AFC top-seeded Chiefs.
And as Wilson was saying, the Steelers want to be where the Chiefs are—the top dog, raising the Super Bowl trophy. It’s nice that they are out to a 10-3 start to the season, but they don’t even have the division squared away yet. They can take care of that the following week when they play the Ravens. But this week, their business is with the Eagles.
