Happy Friday, and I hope yinz are doing well.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ slide continues, losers of three-straight games heading into their regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals. No longer in control of their AFC North fate, they need to beat the Bengals and for the Baltimore Ravens to lose to the Cleveland Browns in order to capture their first division crown since 2020.
With the Ravens playing ahead of the Steelers Saturday, Pittsburgh will know its fate and options before kicking off at 8 PM/EST. Even if the Steelers are frozen out of the division title, seeding will still matter. They can secure the No. 5 seed with a win. With a loss, they fall to the sixth spot should the Los Angeles Chargers handle the Las Vegas Raiders.
By the end of the weekend, we’ll know who Pittsburgh will play come the Wild Card Round. Fortunately, the Steelers are healthy heading into Week 18, and they’ll need every able body against the red-hot Bengals, whose playoff hopes aren’t gone yet.
Four Steelers have made the initial 2025 Pro Bowl squad, all as starters. Hopefully they’ll be too busy that weekend to attend. A reminder this is the last week of our official Friday Five contest. Good luck to all and thanks to everyone who has participated this year.
As always, we’re here to bring whatever happens throughout the weekend. Until then, we have five questions for you to answer below.
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Peace and love, peace and love!
1 – For the final time this regular season, we ask: will the Steelers beat the Bengals?
2 – George Pickens needs exactly 100 yards to hit 1,000 for the season. Will he achieve it?
3 – Name the opponent Pittsburgh will face in the first round of the playoffs (possibilities are Ravens, Texans, and Chargers).
4 – Will Pittsburgh’s defense hold Bengals QB Joe Burrow to under three TD passes?
5 – Russell Wilson threw three TD passes on Dec. 1 against the Bengals. How many will he throw for this time?
Tiebreaker: How many combined first downs will both teams have in this game?
Recap of 2024 Week 17 Friday Night Five Questions
This is the last Friday of the contest! Make your answers count.
Question 1: The Bengals beat the Broncos, 30-24, in overtime. Steelers Depot respondents voted 21-8 favoring Cincinnati.
Question 2: The Dolphins defeated Cleveland, 20-3. The Browns continue jockeying for a higher position in the 2025 NFL Draft. Depot respondents favored Miami by a 27-4 vote.
Question 3: Green Bay made it close in the fourth quarter, but the Vikings prevailed over the Packers, 27-25. Respondents picked Minnesota by a 20-11 vote.
Question 4: The Texans were the only team to record a safety in Week 17. A strong majority of 27 to 4 picked up an easy point. Only seven safeties have been recorded in 2024.
Question 5: The Raiders flushed the Saints down the toilet bowl. Respondents completed the sweep by picking Las Vegas over New Orleans by a 19-12 vote.
Here are the consensus answers of Steelers Depot respondents compared to the correct answers:
| Questions | Bengals Beat Broncos? | Browns Beat Dolphins? | Packers-Vikings Winner | Another Safety Week 17? | Saints-Raiders Winner |
| SD Consensus | Bengals | Dolphins | Vikings | No | Raiders |
| Correct Answers | Bengals | Dolphins | Vikings | No | Raiders |
| Tiebreaker | Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph Combined Pass Yards | Median Response: 399 | Actual Result: 336 | Correct: 1 | |
Steelers Depot respondents answered all five questions correctly as a group.
Seven people answered all five questions correctly and got the five-point weekly bonus! Another 12 folks missed just one question.
The tiebreaker was the combined passing yards by Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph. They combined for 336 passing yards. The median response was 399. Chris92021 came closest by predicting 321 combined passing yards.
Kudos Chris92021! Please send me a DM (subBurgher on twitter or quarternelson on Instagram or email quarter_nelson@yahoo.com) with your PayPal address to receive your winnings. Alternatively, you can kick your share back towards the next pot or donate it to the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Or opt for a Steelers Depot polo shirt in lieu of the cash prize. Entirely up to you, just let me know.
Also, RW Fields (Week 5) and Guillermo Garcia-Gomez (Week 16) please claim your prize. You’ll have until Conference Championship weekend to claim it. Any unclaimed prizes will be donated to the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
Style Points and Jason W hold first and third place, respectively. Mike Bianchi rises to second after his strong finish. This is the final week of the contest. Make your answers count.
Here is the 2024 leaderboard after Week 17:
| SCREEN NAME | POINTS | PLACE | CHANGE |
| Style Points | 83 | First | |
| Mike Bianchi | 76 | Second | +2 |
| Jason W | 74 | Third | |
| Chris92021 | 73 | Fourth | +3 |
| Andy N | 70 | Fifth (tie) | -3 |
| Sunshine State Steel | 70 | Fifth (tie) | +6 |
| Buckeye Steel | 69 | Seventh (tie) | +5 |
| Nick Lawrence | 69 | Seventh (tie) | +5 |
| hoptown | 68 | Ninth | -5 |
| Steelers D | 66 | Tenth (tie) | -4 |
| ManRayX | 66 | Tenth (tie) | -3 |
| Ratsotex | 65 | 12th | -5 |
| don2727 | 63 | 13th | -1 |
| bung | 61 | 14th (tie) | -4 |
| GhotiFish | 61 | 14th (tie) | -2 |
| ValyrianSteelerJedi01 | 61 | 14th (tie) | +15 |
| Richard Prezel | 59 | 17th (tie) | |
| Agustin-ARG | 59 | 17th (tie) | |
| Beeze | 59 | 17th (tie) | +2 |
| Andi B | 58 | 20th | |
| SJT63 | 57 | 21st (tie) | -6 |
| Lucky Beagle | 57 | 21st (tie) | +2 |
| Ted Webb | 56 | 23rd (tie) | |
| Lou Rock | 56 | 23rd (tie) | +2 |
| Slim Stew | 56 | 23rd (tie) | +2 |
| Pghomer | 55 | 26th (tie) | -1 |
| Nick Schultz | 55 | 26th (tie) | +3 |
| *Beaver Falls Hosiery | 54 | 28th | +5 |
| Jesse Logue | 53 | 29th (tie) | -9 |
| Peter-Petersen | 53 | 29th (tie) | -9 |
| *Steven Small | 52 | 31st (tie) | +5 |
| *Pius Street Uke | 52 | 31st (tie) | +5 |
*New to the leaderboard
