Pittsburgh Steelers playoff chances mutilated following Week 14 results

The Pittsburgh Steelers dug their own grave this season. Now their once-thin playoff chances are virtually nonexistent following Week 14. 

I hope I’m not dropping a bombshell on you here with this news, but for those Pittsburgh Steelers fans who are still holding onto the false hope of somehow snagging a Wild Card spot this year, you are going to need to hear what I have to say.

Prior to their game against the Baltimore Ravens, hope hung by a thread. I stated on the Still Curtain Podcast last week that, even if Pittsburgh won out and finished with a record of 10-7, they weren’t guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

Their most recent loss on Sunday is unfortunately the final nail in the coffin of their 2022 season. Combine that with the results of games from AFC competitors from Week 14, and it’s safe to say that the opposition just sunk their battleship.

At 5-8, any hope of making the tournament is not completely pulverized. According to FiveThirtyEight, the Pittsburgh Steelers now have a 0.2 percent chance of making the playoffs this year. Even if they win every game the rest of the way, these odds only increase to roughly a 5 percent chance, as they will require monumental collapses down the stretch from several AFC teams at this point.

The most disappointing Steelers season in decades

This is incredibly discouraging. Rarely in my lifetime have the Steelers been out of the running this early. Though Mike Tomlin could still technically keep his streak of a .500 record going, it will be incredibly difficult to accomplish this year (and quite frankly, a little meaningless).

Mathletically, Pittsburgh isn’t technically eliminated from the playoffs, but because of tiebreakers, it would take at least 3 losses down the stretch from teams like the Dolphins and Chargers to slip in — and that’s assuming the Steelers win every game from here on out. Not only that, but if teams like the Jets and Patriots finish strong, it won’t matter anyway (which is why their odds are microscopic at this point).

The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers finished with a record below .500 was all the way back in 2003 — the year Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu was drafted. The results of the 2003 season were very similar, as Pittsburgh had a very poor stretch in the first half of the season, but did better in the second half. This ultimately resulted in a 6-10 record.

With one more loss, the Steelers could be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Already it feels like there is nothing left to root for this year. It’s time to start setting our sights on the 2023 season and hope for much better results from one of the NFL’s most prestigious franchises.