Despite a win, Pittsburgh Steelers fans are disappointed that their team fell short of a playoff berth, but here’s some good news to help brighten your day.
For many fans, the Pittsburgh Steelers finished the season exactly how they wanted them to. After a dismal 2-6 start, this team rallied back with an outstanding performance in the second half of the season. Since their Week 9 bye, Mike Tomlin’s team has gone 7-2 and finished the year very strong.
For other fans, how the season ultimately played out was the worst-case scenario. There is a large group of fans who feel that this team isn’t quite ready to win a Super Bowl in their current state and that they need more elite talent to make that happen. They believe that scrapping and clawing their way back to a 9-8 record is futile if they weren’t able to make a playoff run.
Even though the Steelers pulled through in the clutch, it was too little too late to mount a playoff berth. Pittsburgh easily took care of the Cleveland Browns in the season finale as they secured a 28-14 victory. Sadly, a Jets loss to the Dolphins was the dagger in the 2022 season for Tomlin’s team, and the Steelers will not enter the playoffs this year.
Coming so close and not being able to enter the post-season is gut-wrenching. Even if this team was projected to lose in the first round of the playoffs, there’s nothing like post-season football. Fortunately, there is some good news coming from the results in Week 18.
Steelers will have the 32nd pick in the 2023 NFL Draft thanks to the Bears
When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded Chase Claypool just before the deadline on November 1st, I was thrilled. At the time, Chicago was sitting on a 3-4 record, and getting a second-round pick from any team would have had me pumped up enough to run through a brick wall.
However, this trade turned out to be better for Pittsburgh than we could have possibly imagined. Since the trade, the Bears have lost 9 straight games. What we thought might have been a mid-second-round pick has actually turned into an unofficial first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Prior to Week 18, the only NFL team with a worse record than the Chicago Bears was the Houston Texans. Steelers fans aware of the situation were hoping that Houston would upset Indianapolis in Week 18.
After the Texans scored a touchdown with under a minute remaining, the point-after attempt would have squared the game at 31-31 and sent them into overtime. However, a gutsy decision to go for two played off as they converted for a 32-31 victory. Because the Bears lost to the Minnesota Vikings in their final game of the season, the Texans and Bears switch places at the last possible moment.
Now not only do the Bears possesses the number one pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, but the second-rounder they sent to Pittsburgh will now have them making the 32nd overall selection this year.
How could this be? Last offseason, the Miami Dolphins forfeited their first-round draft choice for tampering during the head coaching interview process. While Pittsburgh’s pick acquired from Chicago will still technically be listed as the 33rd pick in the draft and won’t come with a fifth-year option, the Steelers will take the 32nd player off the board this April — making this selection act like the final pick o the first round.
For fans who just had their dreams shattered in the results of the Jets-Dolphins game in Week 18, this outstanding draft capital acquired from the Chase Claypool trade gives us all something to look forward to. Pittsburgh will have three picks inside the top 50 and a chance to reshape their future with a strong draft next April.