The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens will play their Wild Card game Saturday night at 8 PM/EST. It will be an online exclusive on Amazon Prime Video, though the game will be shown in local markets. It’s not yet known which local channel the game will air on.
It’s no surprise to see these teams play on Saturday given that both finished up the regular seasons on Saturday. Baltimore beat the Cleveland Browns 35-10 to lock up the AFC North while Pittsburgh continued their four-game skid, falling to the Cincinnati Bengals 19-17.
Playing on Prime Video as the online exclusive contest won’t make the many out-of-town Steelers’ fans happy and is a tough draw all the way around.
The Ravens end the season 12-5 and atop the division for the second-straight season. After sitting at 10-3, the Steelers’ losing streak dropped them to 10-7 and the sixth-seed in the AFC. They haven’t won the division since 2020.
Baltimore is the overwhelming favorite and with good reason. They’ve won four-straight, including getting revenge on Pittsburgh with a 34-17 Week 16 win that prevented the Steelers from clinching the North. The Ravens rolled the Houston Texans on Christmas Day before pulling away from the Cleveland Browns Saturday to secure at a home playoff game.
Pittsburgh is searching for their first playoff win since the 2016 Divisional Round. Losers of their their last four including last year’s Wild Card game, the Steelers own one of the NFL’s longest active playoff losing streaks.
This will be the first time since 2014 and fourth time overall the Steelers and Ravens have met in the postseason. Pittsburgh is 3-1 in those contests, none bigger than their 2008 AFC Title Game capped by SS Troy Polamalu’s game-sealing pick-six. But Baltimore won the most recent affair, 30-17 in the 2014-2015 Wild Card game.
Baltimore has earned the right to be a clear favorite and Pittsburgh faces long odds to win. But the Steelers have had as much overall success against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens as anyone this decade and if they can avoid the mistakes that’s contributed to their losing streak, this could be another close game. Still, all that matters for Pittsburgh as tangible progress is winning.
