The Pittsburgh Steelers came into Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday with their backs against the wall when it came to their postseason hopes. It turns out that motivation is overrated, as the Kansas City Chiefs still overwhelmed the visitors in a final 36-10 victory.
With the win, the Chiefs moved to 11-4 and clinched a playoff berth as well as their sixth consecutive AFC West title while the Steelers now have to hope for some help from others to lose some games (e.g. Bengals or Ravens) in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Despite the completely uneven nature of the final score, there were still plenty of things we can learn from Sunday’s win.
Stating the clear difference
Coming into the game on Sunday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers were actually in the No. 7 spot in the AFC in the overall playoff picture at 7-6-1 (second in the AFC North). While they weren’t fooling anyone into thinking they were an elite team or even a team likely to win a game in the postseason, they can claim to be a playoff contender with wins over the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, and Baltimore Ravens.
However, to those watching this season on a macro level, there are clearly tiers of teams in both conferences right now and the Steelers are not remotely on the Chiefs’ level. The standings might not make it seem like that distance is that great, but in this matchup, Andy Reid‘s team made it clear that the talent differential is just too wide for Pittsburgh to have truly made any noise.
From the difference at quarterback between Patrick Mahomes (more on him in a second) versus an aging Big Ben or the depth of playmakers on every level of the Chiefs defense versus a thinner unit with a few truly good to great players for Pittsburgh, the Chiefs were able to dictate the terms of the game on both sides of the ball. In the end, we were reminded that there’s a clear difference between the NFL’s best teams and those who are also able to make the postseason.