The Steelers got their Christmas presents they needed to keep their playoff hopes alive this weekend: A late, comeback win against the Raiders and losses by the teams they are chasing for the final wild card.
It's still a long shot that they squeak into the playoffs, with 538's projections giving them a 4% chance of reaching the postseason. But for a team that was more or less written off for dead about a month ago, winning four of five and getting to 4% odds isn't so bad.
"I think we're coming along the way he [Mike Tomlin] wants us to," Connor Heyward said. "I feel like we're coming in with the right mindset and getting better each week and just trying to go 1-0. Just trying to control what we can control."
"Control what we can control" has been a common theme during this recent hot stretch. Focusing on what's ahead of them, not the past. That's a lot more apropos when considering the mistakes they made against some of the teams they are chasing are really crawling on their back for their potential playoff push.
Consider the late illegal shift and three Kenny Pickett interceptions against the Dolphins. A muffed punt that resulted in a touchdown against the Patriots. Getting burned on a Zach Wilson touchdown reception by the Jets. The Steelers now find themselves chasing all three of those clubs without the tiebreaker. Had they won even just one of those games, they'd be in a much better spot. Had they won two or three, their playoff berth could have been virtually clinched.
A win by the Chargers Monday night would clinch themselves the second wild card. If that is to happen, the Steelers would need to win out, have the Dolphins lose their final two games and have both the Jets and the Patriots lose or tie at least once each to sneak in as the seventh-seed.
It's just plausible enough to scoreboard watch from home, though the players aren't doing it.
Remember? "Control what you can control." That applies even after a rough start to the season.
"I think as professionals, that's what you're supposed to do," Minkah Fitzpatrick said. "You're never supposed to go out with your head down. You're supposed to carry yourself as a professional. That means taking pride in what you do, whether you're 0-10 or 10-0. You're supposed to carry yourself the same."
Next up on the schedule: A rematch with the Ravens and trying to avenge the Week 14 16-14 loss that put them behind the eight ball.
It's going to be one of two rivalry games where the Steelers are going to try to make up for an early-season loss, the other being Week 18 against the Browns.
"You've seen how the first game went," Fitzpatrick said. "It was a physical game, low-scoring game. Two great defenses, great running offenses on both sides of the ball. I think that's the type of football that people like to watch."
The league certainly agrees, which is why the Steelers and Ravens were flexed to this week's Sunday night game. By the time the Steelers take the field, they'll know if either their season is over or if they have a legitimate shot of earning a wild card.
Even if they're out, the Ravens offer an opportunity to show the team's growth over the course of the second-half of the season. In Week 14, the Ravens racked up 215 yards of rushing, by far the most they had allowed on the ground this season. The defense bounced back to allow just 21 rushing yards to the Panthers in Week 15 and 58 on Saturday to the Raiders.
It looks like Week 14 was an outlier of what has been a much-improved run defense which ranks fourth in football with just 4.0 yards allowed per carry. Sunday is a chance to prove it against one of the league's best running offenses.
"We did a lot of good things, but there are some things we need to improve on," Fitzpatrick said. "Definitely smashing the run was one of the things we didn't do that game. We've been doing a good job with that the last couple weeks. We've just got to carry over the last few weeks to this game."
It's a defensive unit that, as a whole, has played better as the season progressed. That's because they're, you know, controlling what they can control.
"Just doing their job, play and play out, I think that's what this game is," Fitzpatrick said. "It's not the people doing extra and stepping outside of their bounds. It's everybody doing their job and those those extra plays and those other things just come along as you get feel for the game."
Apply it to the rest of the team, and a strong finish at least offers hope for 2023, even if they don't get the help they need.
"I feel like we're coming in with the right mindset and getting better each week and just trying to go 1-0," Heyward said. "Trying to just control what we can control... [We have a better] mindset, and I feel like just everybody being on the same page, us staying later, us meeting longer and us meeting as a group as well."
