Another year, another Thursday night loss on the road to a backup quarterback in the AFC North. Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers let Jameis Winston take over and beat them in Cleveland. And this Thursday, the Steelers lost to Joe Flacco, who’s been with the Bengals for just over a week.
Even more frustrating, the Steelers had every opportunity to further lock up the division. A win would have put them at 5-1, and they would have been 3.5 games ahead of the second-place Bengals. Now, they’re only up by one in the win column, and Bryant McFadden worries the Steelers may have just given the Bengals life.
“Any thought they had in their minds before acquiring Joe Flacco, like this season is probably almost over, is now erased,” McFadden said Thursday on CBS Sports HQ. “They have a fighting chance to get into the playoffs. You know why? Because they have a fighting chance to compete for the divisional title, because of what happened tonight.”
Looking at the schedule each of these teams have in the near future, McFadden isn’t wrong. The Steelers have to play the Packers, Colts and Chargers over the next three weeks, each being playoff contenders. The Bengals have the Jets and Bears, two games that look more winnable on paper. Then, they have a bye week before they play the Steelers again in Week 11.
Thus, if the Bengals keep winning, they could have a chance to play for the division lead in Week 11. The Steelers would have to drop at least one of their next three, which is very much possible after Thursday’s brutal performance.
However, they aren’t the only threat. McFadden thinks this loss could wake up the Baltimore Ravens, at the bottom of the division.
“Because of what happened today, if they get a healthy Lamar Jackson back in the saddle, along with some of their key players on the defensive side, now they believe they have a window of hope. Because of what took place in Cincinnati,” McFadden said.
At 1-5, many have considered the Ravens down for the count. But with Pittsburgh losing, their casket hasn’t been nailed shut yet. They’ll come out of Week 7 being three games behind. However, they still play the Steelers twice, in Weeks 14 and 18. If they win those two, that’s only one more game they need to make up on the Steelers. And they’ve got plenty of time to do so.
There’s plenty of football left, and the Steelers could very well still win the division. But they made it much harder on themselves by losing Thursday. Now, they may have given the Bengals, and even the Ravens, an extra lifeline.
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