Two weeks ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to have all the doubters in the world. But now, after two solid wins in a row, the mood has started to lift. The Steelers now sit in a very good position. To win the AFC North and clinch a playoff berth, the Steelers only need to beat the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18, or they can simply win one more game than the Ravens over the next two weeks to clinch the division.
However, Fox Sports’ Nick Wright isn’t ready to celebrate the Steelers just yet, and he thinks they’re actually the worst playoff team in the league right now.
“I look at the entire NFC playoff field, plus Detroit, as better than them [Steelers]. And the entire AFC playoff field, right now, better than them,” Wright said Tuesday on FS1’s First Things First. “The only team that’s going to be in the AFC playoff field that I would give them a shot to break this streak against is the Chargers. They could get the Chargers, they could get the Bills. And if they get the Bills, I think they will get annihilated in round one. I think the Texans right now would give them huge problems in round one.”
With third-seeded Jacksonville two games ahead of the Steelers, it’s almost guaranteed that Pittsburgh would only enter the playoffs as the fourth seed. That would leave them hosting the best Wild Card team. Currently, that is Los Angeles at 10-4, who edge Buffalo via a tiebreaker. The final wild card team is Houston at 9-5, and the 8-6 free-falling Indianapolis Colts are the first team out.
Of the six other AFC playoff teams, the Steelers have beaten one, a close win over New England in which they forced five turnovers. However, they’ve lost to two teams, both embarrassing defeats against the Chargers and Bills. So it’s certainly fair for Wright to question their validity as a contender. After all, the Steelers currently have the worst record of the seven AFC playoff teams.
That said, sometimes you just need to get hot at the right time. And the Steelers certainly seem to be building towards that. Despite a couple of injuries, the offensive line has looked better in recent weeks. The Steelers rediscovered downfield passing, even in the freezing cold against Miami. And the defense had potentially its best outing of the year, silencing the Dolphins’ offense for most of the game.
Throughout the year, the problem has been the consistency of those performances. But the Steelers now have two solid wins in as many weeks. If they can get hot and continue playing in this rhythm to end the regular season, they’re capable of beating one of those Wild Card teams at home.
