Though the Pittsburgh Steelers have a far better record and divisional standing, Stephen A. Smith has no confidence in the team being better than the NFL’s basement dwellers. After dropping their last two games with a defense that is as disappointing as any unit in the league, Smith took the Steelers to task and believes they’ll be watching from the couch come Wild Card Weekend.
“The Dolphins could turn things around,” Smith said Thursday on ESPN’s First Take. “Start winning football games – too late. You ain’t catching New England. You ain’t catching Buffalo. That means you gonna be home. Steelers gonna end up losing that AFC North. I’m saying they’re gonna lose this Sunday.”
Despite the Steelers leading the division, Smith’s rationale is that Pittsburgh’s season is lost if it falls to the Indianapolis Colts this weekend, and nothing the team does afterward will change that outcome. Just in the way the Miami Dolphins at 2-6 are out of the running before the halfway point of the year. That’s his argument, anyway.
Pittsburgh’s done well to make the playoffs in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era, though the Steelers haven’t gotten over the hump of advancing in the postseason. Smith doesn’t think the team will even get that far. That leaves the division title to the 3-5 Cincinnati Bengals or 2-5 Baltimore Ravens with most pundits, presumably including Smith, expecting the Ravens to storm back and take the crown.
“So the commonality is that Miami going to be watching the postseason just like my Pittsburgh Steelers,” Smith, a noted fan, said.
If so, it would mark the second-straight season the Steelers squandered a once-commanding divisional lead. Pittsburgh led the AFC North for most of 2024 and had a chance to clinch the division with a win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers lost as part of a four-game regular-season losing streak, a historically bad end to the year. After falling to a Wild Card spot, the Ravens sent the Steelers packing in the first round.
The Steelers and Dolphins have long playoff droughts. In fact, both have the longest active playoff losing streaks, dropping their last six chances. Miami’s streak runs far longer. The Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since 2000 while the Steelers’ last victory occurred in 2016. But if their season struggles continue, both franchises will be getting a jump on offseason planning while the AFC’s best teams gear up for the postseason.
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