Current playoff standings…

The Steelers dropped out of the playoffs last night for the time being as they are the 8 seed now at 5-4-1. Good news is they still have everything they want directly in front of them. A win over the Bengals next week puts them right back in at 6-4-1 to the Bengals 6-5. The Ravens and Browns play a huge game on Sunday night as well where the Steelers will want to root for the Browns to win this game. So you still also have the Bills who are 6-4 and play the Saints on Thanksgiving night. So they can end up being 6-5. The Colts who are 6-5 play the Buccaneers Sunday so they can be 6-6. The Chargers play the Bengals the week after the Steelers play in Cincy so someone is going to lose there.

The bottom line is these next 2 games at Cincinnati and at home to the Ravens become MUST wins if you wanna stay in this division race, and this game with the Bengals is huge if you wanna make the playoffs. You can’t get swept by the Bengals and drop to 5-5-1 while the Bengals improve to 7-4.

You gotta get this game in Cincy on Sunday. Huge difference between the Steelers being 6-4-1 and 2-1 in the AFC North and the Bengals being 6-5 and 2-2 in the North as opposed to being 5-5-1 and 1-2 in the division and the Bengals being 7-4 and 3-1 in the division. These are the kinds of games the Steelers usually rise up and beat the Bengals and I expect them to do it once again Sunday in Cincinnati.

 

Soon we won't be seeing Playoff threads

 

Minkah could be back Sunday but I doubt Haden or Watt are. We are not beating the Bengals without those guys. The defense with the injuries is terrible and the offensive line might be the worst in football.

 

I still think they will get in if they finish 9-7-1. I think that will be good enough to barely get them in as either the 6 or 7 seed. You gotta win this game in Cincinnati on Sunday. If they lose this game and drop to 5-5-1 and the Bengals improve to 7-4 it’s gonna be hard to make the playoffs. I think the Steelers will win this game and will rise up especially after all the Tyler Boyd quitting comments made the last game they lost to the Bengals in late September. The Steelers will use that and be ready for this game and I expect them to find a way to win like they always do in any big games they have played the Bengals over the years.

 

After winning the Bengals game, what other three wins do you see them getting

If you're assuming they'll get one vs Raves (after splitting with Bengals), just because splits are more likely - hard to assume they don't lose to the Browns by that very logic.

So that means they have to get 2 of @ KC, @ Min, Ten. That's a big ask.

 

As the great Jim Mora once said:. Playoffs???

 

They are probably going to have to beat the Browns here on that Monday night game in early January. I know sweeps don’t happen that much but they are gonna have to most likely sweep the Browns if they wanna get to 9. I definitely think they can win 1 of the 3 games either at Minnesota, Tennessee at home, or at Kansas City. They are gonna have to if they wanna get in. First things first though gotta beat the Bengals. None of that will matter if the Steelers lose in Cincinnati on Sunday.

 

Yeah, I said there wouldn't be any must wins for a while in another thread, rethinking that after yesterday's results. If they drop the next two they're pretty much cooked.

 

Not sure our history provides any comfort in getting to the playoffs and that was when we had a much better team going in. This team is playing up to the level of their talent right now but that is what the problem is. The only thing that saves us is we get healthy real soon (and, dammit, where the hell is Tuitt?).

 

I posted in another thread that we needed to win last night or this could turn into a string of ugliness going fwd with the injuries we have. I fear though that the code has been broken regarding our defense. Fundamentally, we cannot stop the QB from running wild and free all over the field. Herbert broke our back last night and looked like a HOFer. Well, actually, most of the Chargers WRs were doing the same either because 55 got torched or others missing assignments. I feel like our defense has been reincarnated (due to injuries) back to what it was before Fitzpatrick joined from MIA. We simply can't out score the opponents to win games. JMO>

 

Love going back and seeing me post this and seeing how I was spot on saying that 9-7-1 would be good enough to barely get in.

 

Except ya know, every thing else you said in the post was wrong, lol