Pittsburgh Steelers and 3 Scenarios: A Drive to the AFC Championship

With three games remaining we are getting close to the end of the regular season and the beginning of the NFL playoffs. The Steelers are sitting on top of the AFC North with a 10-3 record, and it is time to start thinking about how the AFC final standings and the playoff seeding are going to shape up.

I'm going to go through three scenarios. The first will be if the season were to end today, next will be the best reasonable case that the Steelers could hope for and last will be what I predict is going to happen.

1.) The Regular Season Ends Today

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CHICAGO, IL - DECEMBER 12: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots looks for a receiver against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on December 12, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. The Patriots defeated the Bears 36-7. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

As it stands today New England is the only team to have officially clinched a playoff berth, but most of the other teams are pretty clear. If things were to end today here are the division winners and their seedings:

1. New England (11-2)
2. Pittsburgh (10-3)
3. Kansas City (8-5)
4. Jacksonville (8-5)
5. Baltimore (9-4)
6. New York Jets (9-4)

Kansas City would get the nod over Jacksonville by virtue of their head-to-head matchup won by the Chiefs, 42-20. Same goes for the Ravens who beat the Jets 10-9.

In the oddity that is the NFL playoff system, the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens are the wild card teams with 9-4 records.

So the first round looks like this:

• Baltimore at Jacksonville
• New York at Kansas City

I like Baltimore and Kansas City in those games, setting up the next round as:

• Baltimore at New England
• Kansas City at Pittsburgh

I like both New England and Pittsburgh as home teams in this round, setting up a rematch between the Patriots and the Steelers for the AFC Championship in Foxboro. I saw what happened earlier this year, and I don't like the way the Steelers match up against the Patriots.

AFC Champion: New England Patriots

2.) The Best Scenario For The Steelers

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PITTSBURGH - DECEMBER 12: LaMarr Woodley #56 of the Pittsburgh Steelers returns an interception for a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the game on December 12, 2010 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Get

Maybe this one is a bit of fantasy island, but hey, you can't blame a guy for hoping. At this point there is probably no way that New England gets bumped from the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The "what if" here is based on the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers both getting their acts together and winning their respective divisions. San Diego has already beaten the Colts this year, so they would get the higher seeding.

With a little luck the Steelers could get set up for the playoffs with the following seeding:

1. New England
2. Pittsburgh
3. San Diego
4. Indianapolis
5. Baltimore
6. New York Jets

I like this list better because the Colts and Chargers are just better than the Chiefs and Jaguars when playing reasonably well. First round looks like this:

• Baltimore at Indianapolis
• New York at San Diego

Again, going on the assumption that the Colts and Chargers get it together, I like both of them to win. That sets up the divisional round as:

• Indianapolis at New England
• San Diego at Pittsburgh

If Peyton Manning is playing well, I like his chances (even at Foxboro) better than I did the Baltimore Ravens' (in the previous slide) against the Patriots. Let's take the Steelers at home for a championship game of Indianapolis at Pittsburgh.

AFC Champion: Pittsburgh Steelers

3.) My Prediction For The Most Likely Scenario

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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - NOVEMBER 18: Ben Roethlisberger #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers throws a pass against the New York Jets at Giants Stadium November 18, 2007 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

So what do I think is really going to happen. I think my pipe dream about Peyton Manning and the Colts' deep run in the postseason is just that—but they do get into the playoffs. Kansas City has an easy schedule the rest of the way and manages to keep their lead, keeping the San Diego Chargers at home. Initial seeding shapes up like this:

1. New England
2. Pittsburgh
3. Kansas City
4. Indianapolis
5. Baltimore
6. New York Jets

Wild card weekend gets you:

• Baltimore at Kansas City
• New York at Indianapolis

I would take both road teams—Ravens over the Chiefs and the Jets [even though I have zero confidence in them] over the Colts. The divisional games would then set up as follows:

• New York at New England
• Baltimore at Pittsburgh

This would be a great weekend of football. We are looking at two games in which the word hate is not an exaggeration. Both pairs have already split their season series, so I would expect battles in each game with third time matchups in a season being impossible to call.

Call me crazy, but I think that of anyone the Jets have the best chance to knock off the Patriots considering how well they know each other. The Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore rematch is a coin flip, but since the Steelers seem to beat the Ravens when they need to the most, I'm going to take the Steelers.

The AFC Championship gets settled in Pittsburgh against the Jets.

AFC Champion: Pittsburgh Steelers

Conclusion

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ARLINGTON, TX - DECEMBER 12: A Dallas Cowboys cheerleader performs at Cowboys Stadium on December 12, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

I guess my bottom line is that I'm scared of the New England Patriots. They are playing at a really high level right now, and Mr. Tom [Brady] Bündchen has picked everyone apart this year.

This is not to say that the Steelers cannot beat them. However, with all of the injuries on the offensive line and problems in the secondary [William Gay], Pittsburgh needs one break along the way to make it to Dallas to play for their seventh Super Bowl title.