Steelers Power Rankings: Week 17

The Pittsburgh Steelers are playoff-bound and riding higher than ever heading into the Season’s finale.

The Steelers once again stunned the football world with another come from behind victory to seal the deal and punch a ticket to the postseason this Sunday.

In dramatic fashion, the Steelers have now won six-straight and have been talked about as one of the top contenders and biggest threats to New England’s seemingly dominance in the AFC.

Now the King of the North, how high are the Steelers around the entire league?

NFL.com: No. 3

Last Week: No. 5

"“Watching Le’Veon Bell run is like hearing live albums of Bob Seger, Springsteen or even Guns N’ Roses. The set list is often different, the rhythm slightly off from the studio album, and maybe Sebastian Bach shows up for a carry — er, to carry a tune for Axl. Yet, at the end of the day, you know “Welcome to the Jungle” is coming, brother. Bell’s stutter-step, explode-then-slow-down-then-accelerate-again is as frustrating for defenders to stop as it is exhilarating for us to watch. While other Steelers made the occasional play, Bell steadily put up 137 yards from scrimmage, inching him ever closer to 2,000 … despite missing the first three games of the season. He needs just 116 yards to hit that mark. With apologies to a couple of NFC guys, Bell might be the best running back in football. The best wide receiver in football was getting wrapped up with seconds to go at Heinz Field on Sunday, his outstretched arm clinching the AFC North title.” – Elliot Harrison"

After being one of the biggest sticklers when it came to the Steelers all season (and rightfully so), Harrison has them in the top 3, and mostly because of Le’Veon Bell.

Bell was just named the Steelers’ team MVP and rightfully so. Since returning from his suspension early in the season, he’s been unstoppable. He’s now in 2nd in the league in rushing yards, leads the league in receptions for a running back and he has played fewer games than most backs. It’s really unbelievable.

Since taking a more conservative run-first approach to the offense, the Steelers have been unbeaten, winning their last six with the new strategy that they adopted following a loss against Dallas.

Barring injury, Bell gives the Steelers a true opportunity to make a title run and could be argued as the most dangerous team in the AFC and most likely to dethrone the Patriots.

ESPN: No. 5

Last Week: No. 7

"“During the Steelers’ six-game winning streak, Le’Veon Bell has averaged 181.8 scrimmage yards per game and scored seven touchdowns. He has averaged 5.2 yards per rush in that stretch as well. So in other words: Bell is good. He’ll try to add to those numbers against the Browns in Week 17.”"

Unfortunately for the stat books, Bell will be sitting out the Browns game. Though, that’s a smart move. Considering he’s probably the most important part of this offense and has been injured in seasons past, maybe it’s time to give him a little rest so that he can get ready for the playoff run.

ESPN isn’t as high on Pittsburgh this week, a team that they had at the top of their chart during their downfalls and then started to drop them more once they started winning. Strange. But still, the Steelers crack the top 5 and rightfully so.

With Derek Carr injured for the Raiders, and Matt Moore and Tom Savage both starting for their teams, are the Steelers the 2nd best team in the AFC? Maybe not. The Chiefs are definitely another team to keep an eye on, and depending on how Sunday goes, they could be in the Steelers’ way right out of the gates.

That being said, we crushed the Chiefs in Week 4 earlier this season. But things have changed drastically since then.