Why 15-1 would be as good as 16-0 for the Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers could be on their way to being just one of 2 teams in NFL history to go 16-0 in the regular season.

This is not to say that it wouldn’t be an awesome thing for Pittsburgh to put together one of the best seasons in NFL history. However, 15-1 could be just as good if not better for the Steelers. As of now the two main teams in contention for the #1 seed in the AFC are the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Why would 15-1 be just as good as 16-0? The answer is simple. If the Steelers went 15-1 that is more than likely because they had the #1 seed locked in before their Week 17 matchup with the Browns. As a result, they would bench some of their best players, or players that were a little banged up giving them a full 2 weeks to get healthy and be ready for their first playoff Matchup.

Looking at the Chiefs’ schedule, their main threats would be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints. The Saints are still a great team. They have been without their best player, Michael Thomas, but by their Week 15 Matchup, he will be healthy and have had the rust shaken off. As the Saints get healthier they will definitely be able to give the Chiefs a challenge.

I also would not discount the Miami Dolphins. I need to see Tua do more for them to make this competitive, however, the Dolphins now have the best scoring defense in the league. Miami head coach Brian Flores is a defensive-minded head coach, and he was the reason that they won 4 of their last 5 games in 2019. All of this means that the Chiefs still have multiple competitive games on their schedule. Pittsburgh primarily has to worry about the Ravens on Thanksgiving, the Colts, and the Bills in Week 14. I don’t see how Pittsburgh loses to any of the other teams on their schedule if Ben stays healthy.

I believe in the difference of strength between these two schedules and I could see the Chiefs lose another game this season if not two.  If the Chiefs fall to two games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers prior to Week 17, Pittsburgh has to take advantage of the guaranteed #1 seed.

The core of their run defense is on the interior with the likes of Tyson Alualu, who is 33 years old, Stephon Tuitt, who suffered a season-ending injury in 2019 and is 27 years old, and Cam Heyward, who has only suffered one season-ending injury in his career but is 31 years of age. Pittsburgh has good depth in the secondary and on the edge. The weakest depth across the defense is now the defensive line. With the addition of Avery Williamson and the great play of Robert Spillane these past two weeks, they will either have one or the other as depth by the end of the season and they would both be great depth.

The Ravens game showed the large difference in stopping the run behind Tyson Alualu and every man behind him on the depth chart. Also, Ben Roethlisberger could definitely use the rest after playing 13 straight games coming off a Tommy John’s surgery in the offseason. If Pittsburgh was able to keep it light and rest some of their veterans like Maurkice Pouncey, Ben Roethlisberger, Tyson Alualu, Cam Heyward, and even Joe Haden in the final week of the season I would gladly accept the loss. Giving some of the veterans an extra weekend off before receiving the only playoff bye in the AFC would absolutely make 15-1 as good as 16-0 for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they are chasing a Lombardi trophy and not just the regular-season wins.

Of course, just resting some of their key contributors doesn’t guarantee a loss in Week 17. Cleveland is currently the 7th team in AFC standings. With the expanded playoff format if the standings stayed where they were, then they would be in the playoffs. Without a bye week for the #2 seed, once the playoffs are clinched most teams will be taking it easy in Week 17.

If Cleveland happens to overtake Indianapolis in the standings, which is possible if they have the same record due to the Browns beating them in a head to head Matchup in the 2020 regular season, or even clinch the 7th seed, then they will probably take it easy on some of their veterans in Week 17 as well. If both teams are sitting key players, I still take Pittsburgh to win in Week 17.