It has been nearly a month since the Pittsburgh Steelers held a lead in a game, losing four straight now. In those four losses, in 240 combined minutes of football, they never had more points than their opponents. And, quite frankly, they rarely even managed to keep a game tied for long.
Losing streaks will happen, but to never even lead in a game is disastrous. In fact, teams like the Steelers rarely even make the postseason. While they finished the season 10-7, which is somewhat respectable, they limped to the finish line.
In fact, no team in the past 25 years has lost their last four games and still made the postseason. The last team was the 1999 Detroit Lions, who finished that season 8-8.They lost in the Wild Card Round to the Washinton Redskins, 27-13, and didn’t make the playoffs again for over a decade. The Steelers make the playoffs—they just don’t win anymore.
In fact, the Steelers are currently on a five-game postseason losing streak, dating back to the 2016 conference finals. They lost that game, and then went one-and-done in 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2023. The way things are currently looking, they may well soon add 2024 to the list.
As just the third team to enter the postseason on a four-game losing streak, the Steelers understandably don’t want to end up like the Lions. The other team who limped into the playoffs was the 1986 New York Jets. In fact, that team lost its last five games—but still won in the first round of the playoffs.
As of this writing, we don’t yet know who the Steelers’ first-round opponent will be. We do know the possibilities: it will be either the Houston Texans or the Baltimore Ravens. The former is a free-falling team in the conference’s weakest division, while the other is arguably the hottest team in football.
It’s obvious which team the Steelers are better off playing, but it’s not in their control. They could have guaranteed a first-round game against the Texans if they won yesterday. Because they didn’t, they need the Chargers to lose to a bad Raiders team to avoid playing in Baltimore.
Considering the Steelers’ four-game losing streak includes a loss to the Ravens in Baltimore, the circumstances are not ideal. But they made their bed, and they have to lie in it. Are the Steelers a better team than the one that ended the season in such horrendous fashion? They can try to answer in the affirmative next weekend.
The Steelers won a Super Bowl from the No. 6 seed before, but that was a very different team. That Steelers team ended the regular season on a winning streak, getting hot at the right time. This Steelers team has been historically bad on offense, with their first streak of four games scoring under 18 points in decades.
