In The Hunt: A victory and some help gets the Steelers in the postseason
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - They say that all you can ask for in life and in sports is a chance and that's exactly what the Steelers have in front of them coming into week 18 - a chance.
The Steelers and Browns will face off in the season finale at Acrisure Stadium and for the Steelers, the light of their postseason hopes still flickers.
For the Steelers to qualify for the NFL Playoffs, first and foremost, they have to beat Cleveland today.
That's step one to becoming the AFC's seventh seed.
Just like last week, however, they'll need some help.
The good news for Steelers fans? It all happens during the 1 p.m. games.
The two games Steelers fans will need to keep an eye on are the Bills vs. Patriots and the Dolphins vs. Jets. Steelers fans today are rooting for the Bills and the Jets.
Should those two teams emerge victorious today coupled with a Steelers win over the Browns, the team that was 2-6 at the bye will finish the season 9-8 and in the playoffs as the AFC's seventh seed.
For the players, today isn't about just making the playoffs, it's about avoiding mistakes they made in the first meeting in September when the Browns beat the Steelers 29-17.
"We've got to play better football," said safety and team MVP Minkah Fitzpatrick. "On the defensive side of the ball, we were playing sloppy - bad eyes, bad feet, we were looking at the wrong things, missing tackles, and it wasn't our normal standard of football. I just think that we need to go out there and keep trending in the right direction like we have been doing the last four or five weeks. Play with great discipline, great eyes, great execution, and physical football up front nad on the back end. I think we'll be able to play at a high level."
Today's game also continues a statistic we highlighted last week: The Steelers have now played 257 games under Head Coach Mike Tomlin and with today's game having playoff implications, they still have only ever played one game while being eliminated from playoff contention.
That came in week 17 in 2012.
A win would also keep Tomlin's streak of never finishing a season under .500 as a head coach.
The Steelers and Browns kick off at Acrisure Stadium at 1 p.m. and you catch it right here on KDKA.