7. Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers somehow managed to sneak into the playoffs. I get the feeling even they didn’t believe it was going to happen. Ben Roethlisberger sounded like someone that was ready to ride off into the sunset after his final home game a couple of weeks ago. However, thanks to the Jaguars upset of the Colts they were able to secure their spot with an overtime win over the sinking Baltimore Ravens (although they had to sweat out a last second Raiders overtime field goal to make sure they didn’t tie the Chargers).
Normally a team like the Steelers would make me nervous. A team that didn’t expect to be here and has nothing to lose is exactly the type of team that can go out and surprise someone. That having been said, Big Ben just doesn’t have enough gas left in the tank (or strength left in his arm) to keep up with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. It would take a herculean defensive effort for the Steelers to even have a chance and based on the fact that the Chiefs just put 36 points up on them a couple of weeks ago, that seems unlikely.
The Chiefs will need to contain Najee Harris on the ground, but they did that pretty well in their last matchup. On defense, TJ Watt is a force off the edge, but as long as the Chiefs don’t let him single handedly wreck their offense the Steelers should be one and done in the playoffs and Big Ben can finally call it a career.