The Steelers are set to get smoked by the Ravens in the Wild Card round of the playoffs in Baltimore.
Don’t believe me?
Lets look at the last five Steelers playoff games under Mike Tomlin.
2016 L - New England jumped out to a 10-0 lead.
2017 L- Jacksonville jumped out to a 21-0 lead.
2020 L - Cleveland jumped out to a 28-0 lead.
2021 L - Kansas City jumped out to a 35-7 lead.
2023 L - Buffalo jumped out to a 21-0 lead.
Notice a trend?
This game may be well over by the end of the first quarter.
Mike Tomlin specializes in this, remember? Carry a mediocre team to the playoffs more often than not, come out unprepared and lay an absolute egg, rinse repeat.
It’s what he does, and ultimately what he has turned this once Championship level franchise into. A group of mediocre losers. That's the standard he has set.
Let's look at the game position by position.
QB
One QB is setting his sights much higher as he sees another MVP and possibly a Super Bowl on the horizon.
The other is setting his sights as high as possible just so he can see over the offensive linemen that are getting pushed into him.
Russ was cooking for a period of time this year. But that feast has come and gone, the chickens came home to roost, and they’re all too short to be a pocket passer, and can’t throw anything but check downs or moon balls.
Advantage Baltimore.
RB
Derrick Henry is an all time great, and even if he has to put the snow tires on, he is going to plow through this Steelers defense and wear them down until he can break a few big runs.
Arthur Smith won’t properly use Jaylen Warren, so we’ll see lots of Najee Harris underwhelming us. “But Najee has 1,000 yards every season?!” Yea okay, he averages 53 yards a game, hardly a game breaker.
Advantage Baltimore.
WR/TE
Sure the Ravens won’t have Zay Flowers, but they still have two pass catching Tight Ends that could likely end up in the end zone on multiple occasions. Plus whatever is lacking in the passing attack, if nothing is there, Lamar can just pull it down and run it, something that he does better than anybody.
George Pickens will play, but we’re just not sure if he will be on this planet mentally. He is in the midst of a late season emotional breakdown and if things don’t go exactly George’s way at the beginning of the game, he might throw a Gatorade cooler, rip off his jersey and go full Antonio Brown on us before halftime.
After him, we have a tall guy we won’t throw to, a tight end we underutilize and a bunch of practice squad players.
Advantage Baltimore.
Defense
The Ravens defense has not been great, their secondary was atrocious in the first part of the season, but they have started to pull it together in the back half of the season. The run defense is good, not great, but good enough to handle this poor Steelers offensive line.
The Steelers defense got back on track last week, keeping Joe Burrow in check for the most part. The problem is, when they get to the playoffs, Mike Tomlin tends to have the worst game plan possible. Just look at how those last 5 playoff games have started and you’ll see all you need to see. This defense is better, but I feel as though the gameplan will negate the superior talent.
Advantage Baltimore
Special Teams
Justin Tucker was the most accurate kicker in NFL history, he also was as clutch as they come and holds the record for the longest field goal in league history. But this is 2024/25 and somehow he is a sub par kicker who people were wondering if he would be cut come playoff time.
Chris Boswell is by many accounts, the best kicker in the NFL right now. He is mister automatic from 59 yards and in. He is clutch too. He is basically everything Justin Tucker used to be.
Advantage Steelers.
If you were keeping a tally, that is 4-1 in the advantages in favor of Baltimore.
So unless the whole game is nothing but Field Goals, the Steelers have no chance.
I don’t want to sound too dire, but Mike Tomlin has this team primed to disappoint the city of Pittsburgh again. Maybe it should be for the last time, but that's a conversation for another day.
In the aftermath, the Steelers will be left in QB purgatory again, just waiting for the next franchise QB to land in their lap.
The defense will be one year older, and one year closer to losing its dominance.
Minkah will probably disappear for another season.
Russ will not be offered a contract and probably sign for $100M somewhere else.
Najee will not be franchised.
George Pickens will (hopefully) be traded.
We’ll have the whole off season to debate whether or not this team can turn things around with this many question marks and holes in their roster.
Buckle up, this game could get ugly quick, and so could the outlook for this franchise.
Final prediction: Ravens 35 Steelers 10.
