The Pittsburgh Steelers are riding high after winning the AFC North by virtue of a Week 18 nail-biting victory vs. the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Pittsburgh finished in first place in the division for the first time since the 2020 campaign but ended the regular season with a mediocre 10-7 record for the third straight year.
After a 4-1 start to the season, the Steelers went 6-6 the rest of the way and NFL.com senior columnist Jeffri Chadiha isn’t optimistic about quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ chances of leading his team to the Super Bowl.
Chadiha revealed his ranking of all 14 playoff contenders on Monday, placing Pittsburgh 13th on the list. The Steelers are only ranked ahead of the NFC South-champion Carolina Panthers.
“The Steelers have been leaning heavily on Rodgers over the past month, as Pittsburgh won four of its last five games with the 42-year-old quarterback playing some of his best football. Now we must see if Rodgers can do even more for the Steelers,” he wrote. “Pittsburgh hasn’t advanced past the Wild Card Round since the 2017 season. It has lost in the first round in each of the previous two seasons, and the challenge awaiting it next weekend — the Houston Texans — will be daunting. The last thing a team with an offense as middling as Pittsburgh possesses is a matchup with the league’s best defense. To make matters worse, the Steelers defense has underwhelmed all year (and allowed a number of explosive pass plays to the Ravens on Sunday).”
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Chadiha added that it “can’t be ignored” that head coach Mike Tomlin’s group has been “erratic all season.”
“That’s not likely to change now that they’re playing for much higher stakes,” he said.
No. 4 Pittsburgh hosts the fifth-seeded Houston Texans on Monday night at Acisure Stadium in the final game of the Wild Card Round.
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