Steelers want to avoid repeat of 2021 when playoff hopes came down to Sunday night outcome
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It’s a scenario the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t want to see play out again. Not after the emotional roller coaster they were taken on two years ago.
Given the eerily similar circumstances, a repeat performance might be unavoidable.
When the NFL conducts its 272nd and final game of the regular season Sunday night, the Steelers could be perched in front of their TV sets, at home following a trip to Baltimore and watching helplessly as two other AFC teams decide their playoff fate.
This year, it’s the Buffalo Bills playing at the Miami Dolphins. In 2021, it was a game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers that raised the Steelers’ collective pulse rate to uncharted levels.
“Craziest game I’ve ever seen,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said.
“I was on my couch and screaming at the damn TV,” defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said.
Special teams ace Miles Killebrew offered a more PG response.
“Oh my goodness,” he said. “That was crazy.”
The scenario this year could come down to the Steelers needing the Bills to lose at Miami, which would give the Steelers the No. 7 seed — and third wild-card spot — in the AFC. Two years ago, the Steelers looked like they had sealed that final spot with a 16-13 overtime win at Baltimore that gave them a 9-7-1 record.
Thanks to the Steelers getting help elsewhere that afternoon, the only scenario that would have knocked them out of the playoffs was a tie in that night game between the Raiders and Chargers. And there was no way that was happening after the Raiders jumped to a 29-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
Until it nearly did. The Chargers scored 15 points in the final 4 minutes, 28 seconds, forcing overtime on Justin Herbert’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams and Dustin Hopkins’ extra point as time expired.
That still left 10 minutes for a winner to be determined. Daniel Carlson booted a 40-yard field goal on the first possession to give the Raiders a three-point lead. But the Chargers converted a fourth down and positioned Hopkins for a 41-yard field goal that tied it 32-32. That left 4:30 on the clock.
“I don’t remember where I was,” Killebrew said, “but I do remember being on the edge of my seat.”
He wasn’t alone.
“If they would have tied, I’d have been (ticked),” Highsmith said.
At his house, Heyward was screaming at his TV.
The Raiders moved into Chargers territory at the two-minute warning. A Josh Jacobs run lost a yard. His next carry gained 7, giving the Raiders a third-and-4 at the Chargers 39. That’s when Chargers coach Brandon Staley inexplicably called timeout with 38 seconds left.
Jacobs got the ball a third time and gained 10 yards to give Carlson an easier field goal try. The Raiders called timeout with 2 seconds left, Carlson sent a 47-yarder through the uprights and the Steelers were off to Kansas City the following weekend in the wild-card round.
This year, a tie in the Sunday night game wouldn’t cripple the Steelers’ playoff chances. A Buffalo victory might, depending on what transpires earlier in the day.
“I don’t know all of the scenarios,” Killebrew said. “I know we have to win.”
Actually, the Steelers don’t. If they lose Saturday afternoon at Baltimore, they can still get into the playoffs as the No. 7 seed if Tennessee and Denver win their respective games Sunday — and provided the Saturday night game between Houston and Indianapolis doesn’t end in a tie.
A Steelers victory against Baltimore would make it more cut and dried. The Steelers would need Tennessee to upset Jacksonville or Miami to beat Buffalo to do the trick. Or, in this instance, a tie between Houston and Indianapolis would be enough.
“You’re talking too much,” Heyward said when that option was presented to him. “I have to win this damn game. That’s it.”
Heyward has been in this situation more times than he cares to remember. In 2019, the Steelers needed to win at Baltimore on the final weekend and get some help to make the playoffs. With “Duck” Hodges at quarterback, the Steelers were no match for the Ravens, losing 28-10 to officially end their season with an 8-8 record.
“If that is indicative of how they’ll play,” Heyward said, “we’ll be ready.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh already has said he will sit quarterback and MVP candidate Lamar Jackson. Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and cornerback Marlon Humphrey also have been declared out for the game, and other key Ravens starters may join them on the sidelines.
Still, the Steelers aren’t expecting any other favors from the Ravens.
“We’re looking at it as though they want to knock us out,” Heyward said. “They don’t even want to give us a chance. We want to go up there and win. We don’t think their mindset is ‘we’re going to lay off the gas.’ They want to knock us out. They want to have success.”
Win or lose, the Steelers will have to scoreboard watch Sunday to see whether their season will continue into mid-January.
“Whatever happens after (the Ravens) is not in our control,” running back Najee Harris said. “That’s the only thing we can control. All of that stuff is secondary.”