The miraculous turnaround from the Pittsburgh Steelers continued on Sunday Night Football when the team defeated the Baltimore Ravens, 16-13. Rookie quarterback, Kenny Pickett led his offense down the field in the final three minutes and located running back, Najee Harris in the end zone to cap off a comeback that allowed the franchise's playoff hopes to remain alive heading into the final week of the season. The NFL recently announced the schedule for Week 18 and as expected, Pittsburgh will play at the same times as the other organization's that could shut down their postseason chances once and for all.
The full Week 18 schedule here, with Packers/Lions moving into the standalone SNF slot. If Seattle wins, Lions will be eliminated. If Seattle loses, it’ll be a win-and-in game for both teams.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 2, 2023
Bengals/Ravens goes to 4:25 pm ET if Cincinnati loses tonight. pic.twitter.com/HGO2ZIJDeD
Pittsburgh will play at 1:00pm ET and host the Cleveland Browns. Earlier this season, Pittsburgh was extremely overpowered by Cleveland and lost a Thursday Night Football contest, 29-17. Pickett was not the starting signal-caller at the time, however, and this will be the first time the Browns will see the rookie in his young career.
The Steelers once had less than a one percent chance to get into the dance, but those odds have increased to 19% according to FiveThirtyEight. The two other teams that need to either lose or tie are the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins. Pittsburgh, of course, has to win in order to have a shot at getting the #7 seed. What once seemed absolutely impossible is now a legitimate reality. A season ago, several things needed to go their way during the last regular season weekend and everything happened perfectly allowing Mike Tomlin's team to get in.
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 18: Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers looks on prior to a game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina. | Grant Halverson / Getty Images
If the Buffalo Bills can defeat the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football, they will have control over the #1 overall seed in the AFC next week. Buffalo will likely be a heavy favorite at home over New England. The biggest challenge Pittsburgh faces, aside from beating an upset-minded Browns' team, will be the New York Jets wanting to play spoiler to the Dolphins. New York was officially eliminated from playoff contention after losing to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17.
While it remains a statistical long shot, crazier things have happened and even though taking care of business on the field is at the top of the priority list for Pittsburgh, it wouldn't come as shocking if players and coaches were trying to find out the scores of both the Patriots and Dolphins' games if they are performing well against Cleveland. Tomlin has never once been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs during the regular season in his career and that streak now continues in 2022.
Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin looks upon practice at 2022 training camp. | Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO)
No one expected the franchise to be in this situation entering Week 18, but after going 6-2 in their last eight games, they remain one of four teams vying for the final Wild Card spot. Look at the bright side, if everything goes correctly at 1:00 on Sunday, the Steelers and fans of the organization won't have to sweat out a Sunday Night Football game potentially resulting in a time like what almost happened a year ago with the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders in the final game of the 2021 regular season.
Do you think that the Steelers have a serious chance of sneaking into the playoffs? Let us know in the comments below!
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