The Pittsburgh Steelers ended the regular season on a sour note, dropping a 19-17 contest to their AFC North rivals in the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday night.
The defeat finalized a 10-7 record for the Steelers, who would enter the playoffs as the No. 5 seed and face the Houston Texans in the first round should the Los Angeles Chargers lose to the Las Vegas Raiders.
If the Chargers triumph over the Raiders, however, Pittsburgh would drop to No. 6 and take on the Baltimore Ravens for a third time this year.
It’s been quite the fall from grace for the Steelers, who under a month ago entered Week 15 at 10-3 with a two-game lead on the Ravens in the North after winning seven of their prior eight contests.
Though it has faced a gauntlet of a schedule to close out the campaign, Pittsburgh’s four-game losing streak entering the postseason is almost unheard of.
Per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, the Steelers are just the third team in NFL history to carry such a skid into the playoffs, with the 1999 Detroit Lions representing the most recent instance.
That Detroit squad lost in the Wild Card round, which is a bit of an ominous omen for Pittsburgh as it looks to get off the snide.
The Steelers put up 44 points in their Week 13 victory over the Bengals. On the flip side, they’ve recorded 57 points while allowing 109 to their opponents during their losing streak and looked nothing like a team that can do damage in the playoffs.
When it was at its best, Pittsburgh played with a captivating edge and resembled Mike Tomlin’s most complete group in years. That’s what makes its sudden collapse so jarring, as the team holds the potential to go out and make some noise in the postseason.
There currently appears to be disconnect at nearly every level, however, and there’s little time to turn things around.