The Pittsburgh Steelers' Playoff Scenario

Entering the final week of the NFL's regular season, it is quite clear what needs to happen for the Pittsburgh Steelers to make it into the post season.

Besides winning in the final week against Miami, the Steelers need...

No. 1—The New England Patriots to beat the Houston Texans

and...

No. 2—Either the Cincinnati Bengals to beat the New York Jets or...the Oakland Raiders to beat Baltimore

UPDATE

Houston can beat New England and we would still have a chance... but it would be slight.

We would need Cincinnati to beat the Jets, Oakland to beat Baltimore, and Kansas City to beat Denver. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers need help from two teams next week. One being New England and the other being either Cincinnati or Oakland.

If New England and Cincinnati were fighting for something the Steelers would have a great chance. But do you think either team cares more about who is going to be the third or fourth seed in the playoffs, or resting their injured players and making sure none of their starters get hurt?

I would bet on the latter, but I'm not sure that all hope is lost.

UPDATE No. 2

It has been established that neither New England or Cincinnati should want to lose considering the fact that if both move on in the bracket, the No. 4 team would have to head to the No. 3 teams home field...and since they have the same record at the moment, they better try their best.

Now that the Cincinnati game was switched from 1 o'clock to the night game, they may not need to play all out, as they will now know the outcome of the NE game which remains at 1 pm...and NE owns the tie-break over Cincinnati. The NFL's flex scheduling may have affected the Steelers chances with this move. Only time will tell.

Yet, I think the Steelers best hope lies in what has helped them over the past two weeks...destiny.

No one can tell me the game winning TD against Green Bay did not bring back memories of the Super Bowl. And no one can tell me that the Steelers didn't have luck on their side after watching Baltimore struggle to unsuccessfully keep those six points on the board at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

I, for one, believe that anything is possible. And not only is it possible for the Steelers to make it to the playoffs, it seems to me that there are forces at work making sure it happens.

Maybe the Steelers truly are a blessed team.