A number of teams head into Week 18 with total control of their playoff destiny, but the Steelers are not one of them.
There are a variety of paths to the postseason available, but beating the Ravens on Saturday afternoon would require the least amount of cooperation from other results. If they can win, losses by either the Bills or Jaguars would put the Steelers in the tournament.
On Thursday, linebacker T.J. Watt said the team would prefer not to need any outside help but can’t “feel sorry for ourselves” and have to keep their attention solely focused on getting the win.
“I think the biggest message this week is to just focus on us in this game,” Watt said, via the team’s website. “We’ve been in the situation so many times where you can’t afford to look at, we need this to happen, we need that to happen. At the end of the day, if we don’t take care of our business, I know it sounds so cliche, but it really doesn’t matter. We just need to make sure that everybody in this locker room understands the importance of this game and takes care of our business first and foremost.”
If things don’t work out for the Steelers, there will be a lot of regretful looks back at the long run of underwhelming offensive results that helped keep them from creating separation from other AFC contenders. Keeping that from happening again in 2024 will be an offseason focus whether the Steelers advance or not.
