Perspective matters

The final weeks of the NFL season are tough for most teams. The league purposefully has designed the schedule to generate intrigue and difficulty. In addition, as Mike Tomlin often says, “the road gets narrow.” Wins are hard to come by and there are usually surprises and upsets late in the season. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost this past weekend to Baltimore and there is a lot of deserved negativity around that; however, I think it is important to remember the perspective and big picture. What follows in this thread are not excuses, “rose colored glasses,” or falsehoods. The words below provide a realistic perspective on where the Steelers stand and what lies ahead. I ask all Steeler fans to remember these items throughout this week and to not let the Steelers disrupt your holidays with family.

First and foremost, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the 2024 NFL playoffs. The Colts, and the Commanders have been outside looking in for 3 seasons. The Bears and the Saints haven’t been in for four seasons. The Falcons have six seasons without a playoff appearance. For the Panthers and Broncos it has been eight seasons; and, lastly the New York Giants haven’t been in the post season since the Steelers beat them in the AFC Championship 14 years ago. Since 2015, only 6 teams have been in the playoffs at least 7 times. The Patriots, The Packers, The Seahawks, The Chiefs, The Saints, and the Pittsburgh Steelers (7 appearances). The Ravens have only been in the post season 5 times since 2014. The Cleveland Browns have been in the playoffs a total of 3 times in the last 20 seasons. The Bengals have been in the post season 4 times since 2014. What does all this mean? The Steelers continue to be a team that competes, that makes the playoffs at a higher clip than most other franchises and clearly has been the most frequent post season visitor in the AFC North. Take a minute to remember that your team is not perpetually bad, does not go long stretches without being relevant, and always fights to the end. No matter what happens over the next 2 games, your team is playing playoff football.

Secondly, The Steelers lost to Baltimore last Saturday on the road. The Ravens are now 10-5. The Ravens are a good team. Baltimore is a tough place to play and win. This was not a home loss to bad football team. As the road gets narrow late in the season, wins are hard to come by for anyone. While this loss did have a lot of elements that I did not like, I still do not think this spells doom for the Black and Gold. Losing to Philadelphia and Baltimore on the road in December is not embarrassing or unrealistic. Let’s quickly compare the Steelers and the Ravens: The Steelers have wins against Falcons, Broncos, Chargers, Raiders, Jets, Giants, Commanders, Ravens, Browns, and Bengals. The Ravens have wins against the same opponents except the Raiders and they split with the Steelers. The Ravens lost to the Eagles and Browns once. The Steelers lost to the Eagles and Browns once. The Ravens won the game at home last week and the recency bias will lead people to believe they are better than the Steelers, this is simply not true. Speaking of the Eagles, they lost yesterday to the Commanders, a team the Steelers beat this season. Good teams playing each other late in the season is intriguing and entertaining, but everyone needs to not take too much stock in the individual outcomes.

Thirdly, the Steelers, despite the last 2 games still are in the driver seat to win the AFC North. If the Steelers win both games at home they win the Division title. The Steelers are 5-1 at home this season. I cannot think of a better scenario than having two home games left on the schedule. Two wins would mean a third home game for the playoffs. I would much rather be facing this scenario as opposed to two road games. In addition, since the Steelers have a better conference record than the Ravens, the Steelers can still win the Division with 1 win and a Baltimore loss (at Houston and home against the Browns). The Season is not over. The AFC North is still there for the taking. And it is there for the taking from the comforts of Acrisure Stadium and the sea of terrible towels.

Lastly, The Steelers look to be headed for either the 3 seed of the 5 seed in the AFC. The 3 seed is a home game. The 5 seed will most likely play a struggling, banged up Houston team indoors and on turf. I feel good about either scenario. Yes, I want the Steelers to win the AFC north and I think they will (I predict wins on Christmas and against the Bengals, and I see the Ravens losing to Houston); however, I am still very excited they are in the playoffs and have a really good chance to win in those playoffs. I believe this because they Steelers are a good team. They are about to get a few key starters/backups back including George Pickens, Larry O, DeShon Elliot, and Justin Fields. If the Steelers get healthy, win these two games, and win in the playoffs, this feeling of doom after losing 2 road games to really tough opponents won’t be remembered.