Steelers have a chance to achieve their preseason goal before they even step on the field against the Cleveland Browns
The win over the Lions wasn’t the only notable takeaway from Sunday.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers head to Latrobe in late July every year, they do it with one goal: to be crowned champions of the AFC North. Fighting for a hat and t-shirt in one of football’s toughest divisions is an honor that the Steelers haven’t been able to achieve since the pandemic.
Now, five years later and after a huge win against the Lions and some help from the New England Patriots late on Sunday night, the Steelers can do just that. Oh, and they can be crowned AFC North Champions before ever lacing up their cleats against the Browns on Sunday.
Steelers win the AFC North with Ravens loss on Saturday
After the Steelers took out the Lions in one of the most dramatic finishes of the season, the attention turned to Sunday Night Football, where the New England Patriots came back from being down double digits in the fourth quarter to rally and beat the Ravens.
That means two things: The Ravens no longer control their own destiny and the Steelers can win the division before playing the Browns. To make the postseason, Baltimore must win out, and the Steelers must lose out. Pittsburgh plays the Browns on Sunday, but that brings us to point number two.
If the Ravens lose to the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night, their season is over. The Steelers will be crowned champions of the AFC North, punching their ticket to the playoffs and hosting a playoff game for the first time in half a decade.
The Packers still have everything to play for amid their own playoff push and Lamar Jackson will be a talking point all week after suffering a back injury that prevented him from returning against the Lions on Sunday. It might sound crazy, but the Steelers’ best chances of wrapping up the division before Week 18 probably come from the Packers more than themselves.
We know the Steelers have a history of playing down to their competition and Sunday’s game will be in Cleveland, which has been the site of a few Steelers disappointments in recent years. That coupled with the potential loss of the Steelers’ top two WRs after Calvin Austin III’s injury and DK Metcalf’s blowup, and questions about T.J. Watt’s availability still lingering, creates the perfect environment for a trap game.
If the Packers can take care of business the day before, however, than none of it will matter, and the Steelers will achieve what many believed to be impossible before the season started.
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