The Pittsburgh Steelers now officially know which team they will be facing in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Of course, Pittsburgh's spot in the postseason is contingent upon a win over the Baltimore Ravens tonight on Sunday Night Football.
Entering Week 18, numerous scenarios could have resulted in the winner of the AFC North playing one of four teams in the first round of the NFL Playoffs: the Houston Texans, the Buffalo Bills, the Los Angeles Chargers, or the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Now the No. 5 seed in the AFC is locked in and ready to go for next week.
With a Week 18 Texans home win over the Indianapolis Colts, the winner of the Steelers and Ravens game on SNF will host the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round if they beat the Baltimore Ravens tonight
The most important thing to note in all of this is that none of the potential playoff matchups matter if Mike Tomlin's team can't get past the Ravens on SNF. But assuming they find a way to get the job done in their season finale, Pittsburgh will host Houston next week.
This isn't a matchup anyone should want.
Though the Texans narrowly closed out a Week 18 win over the Colts, Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans elected to shut down a few of his players partway through the game, including quarterback C.J. Stroud.
The Texans have now won nine straight games to close out the season. Houston closes out the year with the number one scoring defense and number one total defense in the NFL. This could prove to be a brutal matchup for a team like the Steelers, who were only able to muster up six points in their Week 17 loss against the Cleveland Browns.
Had the Texans lost, the winner of the AFC North could have been looking at a different matchup next week. Instead, the Steelers or Ravens will host a red-hot Houston Texans team next week. Pittsburgh will have their work cut out for them in the Wild Card round if they can sneak past the Baltimore Ravens tonight.]