Surprisingly the Steelers have a shot at the Division title after everything that has gone on this season. They are still two games back with four to play, but beating Baltimore last Sunday gives them an outside chance to win the Division. They have to do their party by winning the rest of the games they have left on their schedule, and Baltimore has to lose three of their last four.
Out of the two teams, the Steelers definitely have the easier finish to their regular season. Three out of their last four games are to be played in the friendly confines of Heinz Field where the Steelers become especially hard to beat. This week the Steelers have the San Diego Chargers at home, and the Chargers are coming in faltering. They lost last week to the Bengals in San Diego, and Philip Rivers hasn’t been too careful with the football coming down the stretch of close games.
The Chargers’ offensive line is in shambles, and they have resorted to holding tryouts just to add some depth to their line. Even with starting shutdown corner Ike Taylor out, the Steelers should be just fine with Keenan Lewis and Cortez Allen starting at cornerback. Also, a huge playmaker is coming back for the Steelers; Ben Roethlisberger is set to return to action this Sunday. So it’s hard to see this game any other way but the Steelers’.
After the Steelers play San Diego; they travel down to Dallas to face the Cowboys who are fighting for a playoff spot themselves. Then the final two games of the Steelers’ season are at home against division opponents. The first of those two games could very well be the play-in game to see who gets the final wildcard spot in the AFC. Cincinnati currently has the same record as the Steelers, but the Steelers hold the tie-breaker since they beat Cincy head-to-head.
The final game of the year for the Steelers isn’t against their old foe; the Cleveland Browns. Last time these two teams played the Steelers played a very embarrassing game and turned the ball over eight times in their 20-14 loss to the Browns. Don’t expect the Steelers to be so nice this next time around.
Baltimore on the other hand plays a pretty tough final four games. The Ravens are facing four pretty good quarterbacks, and we all saw what 38 year-old Charlie Batch did to that secondary. This week they face, the seemingly unstoppable RGIII and his Washington Redskins. The Redskins are coming off a big win over the World Champion New York Giants, and have division title hopes in their sights. Griffin played pretty decent against the Steelers No. 1 ranked defense. If his receivers didn’t drop so many balls, who knows what the outcome of the game would have been.
After their game versus the Redskins, the AFC West division leader Denver Broncos travel to Baltimore. The Broncos are led by MVP candidate Peyton Manning and his high-flying offense. This game could potentially be the battle for the No. 3 seed in the AFC. Peyton’s little brother Eli and the Giants come to town right after that to face the Ravens.
Finally, the Ravens end their season with the division rival Bengals who are currently running on all cylinders. We don’t know that position the Bengals will be in come week 17, but they very well could be battling for a wild card spot, or maybe just playing spoilers. Either way there is no chance of them laying down and letting the Ravens win.
It’s easy to see that the Steelers have a much easier schedule left compared to Baltimore. All the Ravens have to do is lose three of those last four games to leave the door wide open for the Steelers to come in and steal the AFC North Division crown. Playing at least one playoff game at home would be very much welcomed by the Steelers and their players. They are one of the hardest teams to beat at home. It’s just something about playoff football that makes every fan get up and scream as loud as possible to pump up their Steelers, and make it almost deafening on the field.
If they have to travel it won’t be so bad because as we all know Steeler Nation is one of the best (if not the best) traveling group of fans in all of sports. Even on the road it’s almost like playing at home with all those Terrible Towels waving. There is the still the chance that the Steelers play that first playoff game at home though.
Photo Credits: Getty Images
