To get in...Not such a long shot....sort of

[Munboy]

Here's what the Steelers need to have happen to get in the playoffs....

First off
Win EVERYTHING from here on out. This will be double help. Improve their record, AND put a loss on Baltimore and Miami. Record 9-7 (Green Bay, Baltimore, and Miami...not an easy task ahead)
OR
If they lose to Baltimore or Miami, that team will have to lose 2 of their next 3 games. If they lose to both...they're not eliminated, but they are all but...haha

Secondly
Denver to lose from here out. Record 8-8
OR
JAX to lose 2 games. Record 8-8

Thirdly
Winning here on out, beating Miami and Baltimore, will put them ahead of those 2 teams, giving them a record of 8-8 at best. If both Denver and JAX scenarios play out above, then this will put the Jets and Steelers in, if only one of those scenarios happen, then the Jets will need to lose a game.

Steelers - GB, Baltimore, Miami
Baltimore - Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit (The Steelers HAVE to win here)
Miami - Tennessee, Houston, Pittsburgh (I can see them losing these games)
Denver- Oakland, Philly, KC (Losing all these is a LOOOOONG shot)
JAX- Indy, NE, Cleveland (Our best bet right here! I can see them going 1-2)
Jets - Atlanta, Indy, Cincy (Could lose all three here)

This, of course, is not getting into the stickiness that is tiebreakers. The way I see it playing out...

The Steelers win from here out, giving Miami and Baltimore at best an 8-8 record and them a 9-7 record. Denver will beat Oakland and KC, but lose to Philly, they'll have one wild card spot with a 10-6 record. JAX will lose to Indy (always has their number) and NE, but beat Cleveland. They'll end with a 8-8 record, knocking them out of that 2nd wildcard spot. The jets will lose at least 2 of their remaining games (if not all 3) giving them an 8-8 record at best, but most likely a 7-9 record.

And...Tada! The Steelers are in. They can control their own destiny if they win from here on out and get a little help from the Jets and Jax losing a game.....it can happen!

[mattb47]

Unfortunately...the hardest part of this scenario seems to be us actually winning games...

[petedog9]

Baltimore would have to lose 2 of there next 3 as they are a game up on Pitt currently.. C'mon Chicago....

[mattb47]

On looking at it again, I think your math is off a bit...currently Miami, Baltimore, and Jacksonville all sit at 7-6, we sit at 6-7. With the tiebreakers and things that we will LOSE to all of those teams except Miami, we need to win out and both of Baltimore and Jacksonville to lose 2 of their last 3.

So we need to win all 3 of our last games, we need Jacksonville to lose to both Indy and NE and we need Baltimore to lose another game to either Chicago or Detroit...Chicago is probably our best bet here. So this week we are bigtime Indianapolis and Chicago fans if we want to have a chance to sneak into the playoffs.

[petedog9]

Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! Da Bears! DITKA!!!

So your saying we have a chance....

[Munboy]

Step one complete (JAX losing to Indy)

Only about 4000 more steps and we're in!

[steelerfan513]

No team that loses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns in the same season deserves to make the playoffs. Nor will they, almost certainly, because they actually have to play good teams from here on out, and a team that can't beat some of the worst teams in the league sure as hell isn't going to beat teams that are trying to get into the playoffs. I don't want to think about what Aaron Rodgers is going to do to the Steelers on Sunday if Bruce freaking Gradkowski can throw for 300 yards on them and if Matt Cassel, who currently sports a 68.3 quarterback rating, can look good against them as well.

Sorry that I'm raining on the parade here, but I can't get excited about a team's slim playoff chances when the team itself can't beat teams that have zero chance of making the playoffs. I don't want to see them try to play legitimate teams because we can probably guess how that's going to end.

[The Lung]

I'm with steelerfan513.

In fact, I'll even go above and beyond him - I hope the Steelers lose out, and get a better draft pick in the process. Pittsburgh is assured of finishing the 2009 season with a record between 6-10 and 9-7. That means, come the 2010 NFL Draft, the Steelers will be picking likely between No. 10 and No. 14. The Steelers picking in the top half of 2010 Draft? The rest of the NFL should be scared.

Copy/paste the following URL to read more:

Code: Select all

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/307894-steelers-picking-in-the-top-half-of-draft-the-nfl-should-be-scared

[mattb47]

No team that loses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns in the same season deserves to make the playoffs. Nor will they, almost certainly, because they actually have to play good teams from here on out, and a team that can't beat some of the worst teams in the league sure as hell isn't going to beat teams that are trying to get into the playoffs. I don't want to think about what Aaron Rodgers is going to do to the Steelers on Sunday if Bruce freaking Gradkowski can throw for 300 yards on them and if Matt Cassel, who currently sports a 68.3 quarterback rating, can look good against them as well.

Sorry that I'm raining on the parade here, but I can't get excited about a team's slim playoff chances when the team itself can't beat teams that have zero chance of making the playoffs. I don't want to see them try to play legitimate teams because we can probably guess how that's going to end.

We've done a lot of this over the years though in playing to the level of our competition...why do you think that we never really get blown out but never really blow out teams all that often either? For the same reasons the games were even close with those bad teams, we'll likely have a legitimate chance to win against the better teams that we play from here on out.

If we don't make the playoffs it will be fine because we and will get a good solid draft pick in one of the ideal ranges of 10-15, but there's never going to be a season that I will not be cheering for this team to make the playoffs if we can...once we get in, anything is possible.

[steelerfan513]

No team that loses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns in the same season deserves to make the playoffs. Nor will they, almost certainly, because they actually have to play good teams from here on out, and a team that can't beat some of the worst teams in the league sure as hell isn't going to beat teams that are trying to get into the playoffs. I don't want to think about what Aaron Rodgers is going to do to the Steelers on Sunday if Bruce freaking Gradkowski can throw for 300 yards on them and if Matt Cassel, who currently sports a 68.3 quarterback rating, can look good against them as well.

Sorry that I'm raining on the parade here, but I can't get excited about a team's slim playoff chances when the team itself can't beat teams that have zero chance of making the playoffs. I don't want to see them try to play legitimate teams because we can probably guess how that's going to end.

We've done a lot of this over the years though in playing to the level of our competition...why do you think that we never really get blown out but never really blow out teams all that often either? For the same reasons the games were even close with those bad teams, we'll likely have a legitimate chance to win against the better teams that we play from here on out.

If we don't make the playoffs it will be fine because we and will get a good solid draft pick in one of the ideal ranges of 10-15, but there's never going to be a season that I will not be cheering for this team to make the playoffs if we can...once we get in, anything is possible.

The difference is that in those seasons, the Steelers more often than not found ways to beat the teams they were supposed to obliterate, even if those games turned out to be closer than expected. Hell, even they year they went 8-8, they still beat the Chiefs by 38 and the Browns by 20. Their biggest win this season was an 18-point win over the Broncos, but that was with Polamalu healthy. Their only legitimately good game in their five-game losing streak was against the Ravens; their defense and special teams were good enough, and their offense was limited because Roethlisberger didn't play. Every other game they looked feeble in some combination of offense, defense and special teams. They have weaknesses across the board, and every team is finding ways to exploit them in one way or another.

Do they have the ability to beat these good teams and get into the playoffs? Sure; they won the Super Bowl last year, after all. But their ability to beat three straight good teams after losing 5 straight, 3 to absolutely abysmal opponents, combined the ridiculous amount of help they would need on top of that don't leave me optimistic, to say the least.

I'm going to be rooting for them, of course, because what else am I going to do? I don't think about the draft pick implications when I'm watching the game. But I'm not going to worry about any playoff scenarios unless then win their next two games and still have a chance to make the playoffs in week 17. With the way the Steelers have been playing lately and their record relative to the rest of the wild card contenders, their chances are too low to consider seriously until week 17, if they still have a chance at that point.