Hey, guess what, we’re not dead yet. Yes we’ve lost 3 in a row. But let’s look at what else is happening in the league before we bury the 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers.
Current Wild Card Race
5. Denver (7-4)
6. Jacksonville (6-5)
7. Baltimore (6-5)
8. Pittsburgh (6-5)
9. Miami (5-6)
10. NY Jets (5-6)
11. Tennessee (5-6)
12. Houston (5-6)
We’ll start close to home then go through the other 7 teams that are battling for the 2 wild card spots.
Remaining Games:
Oakland
@ Cleveland
Green Bay
Baltimore
@ Miami
Combined record of remaining teams: 22-33
Remaining teams with winning records: 2
Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 2
Remaining Home Games: 3
Remaining Games:
@ Kansas City
@ Indianapolis
Oakland
@ Philadelphia
Kansas City
Combined record of remaining teams: 27 – 28
Remaining teams with winning records: 2
Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 1
Remaining Home Games: 2
Remaining Games:
Houston
Miami
Indianapolis
@ New England
@ Cleveland
Combined record of remaining teams: 29 – 26
Remaining teams with winning records: 2
Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 4
Remaining Home Games: 3
Remaining Games:
@ Green Bay
Detroit
Chicago
@ Pittsburgh
@ Oakland
Combined record of remaining teams: 22 – 33
Remaining teams with winning records: 1
Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 1
Remaining Home Games: 2
Remaining Games:
New England
@ Jacksonville
@ Tennessee
Houston
Pittsburgh
Combined record of remaining teams: 29 – 26
Remaining teams with winning records: 3
Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 5
Remaining Home Games: 3
Remaining Games:
@ Buffalo
@ Tampa Bay
Atlanta
@ Indianapolis
Cincinnati
Combined record of remaining teams: 30 – 25
Remaining teams with winning records: 3
Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 2
Remaining Home Games: 2
Remaining Games:
@ Indianapolis
St. Louis
Miami
San Diego
@ Seattle
Combined record of remaining teams: 29 – 26
Remaining teams with winning records: 2
Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 3
Remaining Home Games: 3
Remaining Games:
@ Jacksonville
Seattle
@ St. Louis
@ Miami
New England
Combined record of remaining teams: 23 – 32
Remaining teams with winning records: 2
Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 3
Remaining Home Games: 2
As you can see, the Steelers and Ravens have the easiest remaining schedules of the 8 teams in the race. Miami plays all 5 of their remaining games against teams in the AFC playoff hunt. Jacksonville has 4 of their remaining games against teams in the playoff race. The Steelers have head-to-head tiebreakers on Denver and Tennessee if it would come to that. They can also secure a head-to-head tiebreaker on Miami by beating them the last week of the season. No idea how the tiebreak situation with Baltimore would go down, but if we beat them head-to-head and win out, we’ll be a game ahead of them.
Can the Steelers get things turned around? Of course. Remember, in 2006 things were looking down and we were sitting at 7-5, then we went on a big run and didn’t lose the rest of the year. If Polamalu and Ben come back this week, we’ll be a completely different team. Everyone else in the race has very losable games, and we’ve got two games to get our ducks in a row before Green Bay comes to town.
So don’t go giving up on this season just yet. We’re still in the thick of things and with a great December, could very well be playing in January.
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