KC Chiefs set to officially host Pittsburgh Steelers in Wild Card round
By Matt Conner
Now that the 2021 NFL regular season has played out in its entirety, we now know the first step of the postseason journey for the Kansas City Chiefs. It will be a home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers that will serve as the Chiefs’ first test toward their hopes of making a third consecutive Super Bowl appearance.
The Chiefs were hoping to not play at all in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs, but the Tennessee Titans did what they had to do against the Houston Texans and came away with a tight 28-25 win to claim the top seed in the AFC.
The expanded format of the NFL postseason to seven teams included from each conference removed a first-round bye for the second seed, which means the Chiefs are now hosting the Steelers instead of also sitting back and relaxing as they would have done during their Super Bowl season in 2019 (and earlier).
The Chiefs have finally learned who their Wild Card opponent will be.
It was possible that the Chiefs might have been forced to play a division rival for the third time this season if the final regular season game of the year—a Sunday night contest between the L.A. Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders—would have ended in a tie. Instead, the Chiefs avoid playing the Raiders yet again for the chance to play the Steelers—again.
The Chiefs just hosted the Steelers only three weeks ago and dominated the visitors by 26 points. That game was also without Nick Bolton on the defensive side and Travis Kelce on the offensive side. (To Pittsburgh’s credit, they didn’t have their own starting tight end either in Pat Freiermuth.)
The storyline heading into this game will be about the end of Ben Roethlisberger‘s career, since any loss suffered by Pittsburgh in the postseason is rumored to be his last before retiring in the coming offseason. Given how Big Ben looked against the Chiefs defense in Week 16, it’s hard to imagine things go much better this time around. That said, anything can happen knowing it’s the postseason.
The Chiefs will host the Steelers at 7:15 p.m. C.T. on Sunday night, January 16.