Once all but assured of a playoff spot, the Steelers find themselves with one game remaining and needing help on Sunday from a strange friend in the Browns.
While the Steelers are playing the Bengals Sunday at Heinz Field, some 250 miles away in Baltimore, the Browns will be battling the Ravens for a chance to finish above .500 for the first time since 2007.
But the Steelers aren't feeling especially kind regarding their troubled and often comical neighbors to the north. They need a win of their own over the Bengals and a victory or tie by the Browns to reach the playoffs for a fifth straight year.
The Steelers, however, can't get caught up in watching the scoreboard. First, they have to take care of business on their end of it, an issue that has put them in this position in the first place. Once 7-2-1, the Steelers have lost four of their past five to fall behind the Ravens by a half game in the AFC North standings.
Every one of those games have been decided by a touchdown or less, leaving the Steelers' season teetering on the brink.
"Gotta win this football game," Ben Roethlisberger said. "I don’t care about anything but winning this football game because nothing matters if you don’t."
The Bengals know the feeling. Since losing 28-21 to the Steelers on a last-minute touchdown pass by Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown to fall to 4-2, the Bengals have lost seven of their past nine games. They've placed 18 players on IR, including quarterback Andy Dalton, receivers A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd and cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick. Boyd and Kirkpatrick headed to IR this week.
"It’s the last opportunity to go out and play this year," said quarterback Jeff Driskel, the starter in Dalton's place, of the team's motivation this week. "We want to go out and play good football — go out, execute and take in the plan. It’s another week, and another opportunity to go out there and play good football and get a chance to get a win against a division opponent.”
But the Bengals would love nothing more than to keep the Steelers from getting the win they need to keep their hopes alive. After all, they did the same thing to the Ravens in the regular season finale in 2017, beating Baltimore to end its playoff hopes.
The Steelers are intent not to let that happen.
"It hurts. I think everyone put a lot of energy in not only this game but this season in general," David DeCastro said. "To have it go the way it's gone is a little deflating. But it's not over. We realize that, too. We've got to pick it up as the week goes on. As bad as you feel now, you would feel a lot worse if Baltimore loses and you lose, too."
That could be slightly more difficult for the Steelers than usual, even against the depleted Bengals. Chris Boswell was placed on injured reserve Friday, with largely untested Matt McCrane signed to take his place. Boswell hadn't been good this season -- making just 65 percent of his field goals -- but McCrane, a rookie, has attempted just nine in his career, making five.
Then there's Antonio Brown. He's questionable to play in this game after missing the entire week of practices with what Mike Tomlin described as knee discomfort. Brown's status will be a game-time decision. Brown is coming off his best game of the season, catching 14 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-28 loss at New Orleans.
And Vince Williams is doubtful to play with a toe injury suffered against the Saints, meaning the Steelers could be without their second-leading tackler against a Bengals offense that will lean heavily on running back Joe Mixon, who leads the AFC in rushing with 1,063 yards.
On the positive side, the Steelers should get James Conner back for this game after a three-game absence because of a sprained ankle. Conner, who is listed as questionable after practicing all week, was leading the AFC in rushing with 909 yards and 12 touchdowns at the time of his injury.
At the very least, the Steelers should have enough juice remaining to take care of the Bengals. The odds makers think so. They've installed the Steelers are two-touchdown favorites.
Now, they just need to take care of their business to have a chance for that to matter.
“I’m like Jim Carrey right now in ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ ” Ramon Foster said. “ ‘So you’re saying we have a chance.’ That’s where I’m at.”
THE ESSENTIALS
• When: 4:27 p.m.
• Where: Heinz Field
• Radio: 102.5 WDVE, ESPN Pittsburgh
• Satellite: SiriusXM 227, Internet 826
• Forecast: 34 degrees, partly sunny
• Lots open: 12:30 p.m.
• Will call open: 2:30 p.m.
• Gates open: 2:30 p.m.
• Boxscore: NFL Game Center
• Odds: MyBookie.AG
THE INJURY REPORT
Steelers: S Sean Davis (quadriceps, questionable), RB James Conner (ankle, questionable), WR Antonio Brown (knee, questionable), LB Vince Williams (toe, doubtful)
Bengals: LB Vontaze Burfict (concussion, out), CB Tony McRae (hamstring, out)
THE KEY VARIABLE
Usually, we look at a key matchup in the Steelers' game that goes a little beyond the norm. This week, we're going to look even a little deeper and break down the Ravens-Browns game in Baltimore.
The Browns (7-7-1) have already beaten the Ravens (9-6), 12-9, in overtime in Cleveland earlier this season in a game started by Baker Mayfield, who has played very well down the stretch.
Both teams have won five of their past six games with their rookie quarterbacks, and while Lamar Jackson has been good, Mayfield has been better.
In his past six games, Mayfield has 14 touchdown passes, just four interceptions -- three of which came in one game -- has averaged 263.5 yards passing per game and has been sacked just three times.
Nick Chubb has rushed for 569 yards and four touchdowns during that span for the Browns, also scoring on a pair of passes.
But the Ravens have averaged 218.5 yards rushing per game since Jackson took over at quarterback. Their read-option offense makes them tough to prepare for and Jackson is coming off a game against the Chargers in which he topped 200 passing yards for the first time.
Gregg Williams and his coaching staff want to keep their jobs and would be all but assured of doing so with a win in this game. As Williams said earlier in the week, his team is treating this like a playoff game.
The Ravens should, as well.
The Ravens do have a big edge on defense, where they're No. 1 in the league -- helped out by that rushing offense that controls the clock. They also have an edge on special teams.
But as good as Baltimore's defense is, it has forced just 14 turnovers, making the Ravens one of just three teams with fewer turnovers than the Steelers, who have 15.
That's one thing on defense the Browns do well. They have forced 30 turnovers this season, the second-most in the league.
HISTORY LESSON
It was a year ago nearly to the day when the Ravens entered their regular season finale against the Bengals needing only a win to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
At 9-6, the Ravens held the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs entering the game, but hadn't locked up a spot. They still needed a win over the 6-9 Bengals. Tennessee, also at 9-6, was the sixth seed, while the Bills and Chargers, both at 8-7, needed some help.
The Bengals were playing out the string, but that didn't stop them from jumping out to a 17-3 first half lead on a pair of Andy Dalton touchdown passes to Tyler Kroft and a 32-yard Randy Bullock field goal.
The Ravens, however, got a much-needed touchdown with four seconds remaining in the first half when Joe Flacco tossed a 6-yard pass to Chris Moore to make it 17-10 after two quarters.
But Darqueze Dennard extended the Bengals' lead to 24-10 with an 89-yard interception return for a score early in the third quarter, putting the crowd at M&T Bank Stadium on edge.
The Ravens trimmed the lead to 24-17 with 6:16 remaining in the third quarter on a 17-yard Alex Collins touchdown run, then took the lead in the fourth quarter on a Justin Tucker field goal and a Flacco touchdown pass to Mike Wallace.
Leading 27-24, the Ravens looked as if they would close out the Bengals.
Starting from their own 10 with 2:43 remaining, Dalton got the Bengals out to midfield and the game appeared to be over when Eric Weddle intercepted Dalton at the Baltimore 32 with 1:23 remaining. But Marlon Humphrey was called for defensive holding on the play, negating the turnover.
A first-down penalty moved the ball back five yards, and after two incompletions and a three-yard pass to Kroft on third down, the Bengals faced fourth-and-12 from the Baltimore 49 with 53 seconds remaining when they took their final timeout.
Then, this happened:
Andy Dalton to Tyler Boyd for the #Ravens eliminating TD. #Bengals win Marvin Lewis’ (expected) final game as head coach and eliminate rival Ravens from the playoffs. #Bills officially take the final playoff spot. pic.twitter.com/TyH4UucQMI
— Roberto Jurado (@JuradoNYC) January 1, 2018
Boyd, a Clairton native and Pitt product, crushed the Ravens' playoff hopes with this 49-yard touchdown catch and run that gave the Bengals a 31-27 lead.
The Ravens got the ball back with 38 seconds remaining, but Carlos Dunlap's second-down sack forced a turnover on downs as the Baltimore's playoff hopes went up in smoke, sending the Titans and Bills to the playoffs.
"Last year doesn't sit well with us," Ravens cornerback Brandon Carr said this week. “We had a prime opportunity to extend our season, and we failed at it. We didn’t finish the job, so that’s why this year, the art of finish is big for us. Just finding ways to win this game by any means necessary, emptying your tank, giving it your all, and then we’ll reload for next week once we get there.”
This came a year after the Steelers beat the Ravens, 31-27, on Christmas Day at Heinz Field to knock them out of the playoffs.
THE MAIN MATCHUP
Roethlisberger might not have won the team MVP award for the season this week, but there's little doubt the team's chances of beating the Bengals will lie on his shoulders, especially if Brown doesn't play.
Roethlisberger enters Sunday's game leading the NFL in passing yards with 4,842, leaving him 168 yards short of becoming just the sixth player in league history to throw for 5,000 yards. He's already set a team record with his 33 touchdown passes and needs 110 yards to break his own team record of 4,952 set in 2014, the only other time in team history a player has led the NFL in passing.
Roethlisberger also leads the league in pass attempts and completions, part of the Steelers' league-high 2-to-1 pass-to-run ratio.
"We’ve thrown it a lot, but we’ve gotten a lot of first downs and a lot of opportunity to eventually put points on the board," offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner admitted. "I think he’s been really solid, and last week was probably his finest hour. He was actually really good."
Roethlisberger threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns in the loss at New Orleans, with Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster accounting for 300 of those yards.
He had 369 yards and a touchdown earlier this season in a win at Cincinnati as Smith-Schuster caught seven passes for 111 yards and Brown had five for 105, including a game-winning 31-yard catch-and-run with 10 seconds remaining.
The Bengals know all about the dangers of dealing with the Steelers' passing game, which not only features Roethlisberger, but the league's only receiving duo who both have more than 100 receptions and 1,000 yards -- just the sixth duo in league history to accomplish that feat.
“You have two outstanding receivers. Rarely do you see guys with 100 catches," Lewis said. "They do both underneath and vertical. Both guys make large, explosive plays. They are competitive with the football. They run well with the ball after they catch it. You have to do a tremendous job. Not many teams have threats like that.”
Lately, the Steelers have gone to a five-receiver package that not only opens up Brown and Smith-Schuster, but also gives Roethlisberger the option of throwing it to rookie James Washington, Eli Rogers and Ryan Switzer.
"It’s a change-up. We’ve been down at one position – at the halfback position – so we use it not just because we can and have guys who want to get touches too, but it’s rest time for the running back, it’s a rest time for our tight ends," Fichtner said. "So when you’re trying to use people 'x' amount, numbers in a game, that allows us just to throw another personnel group out there. It’s been very efficient as far as throwing and catching and moving the chains for first downs. And I would suspect that it probably puts the defense in...they’ve got to make a decision of how they want to play it. There aren’t many ways you can do it."
For the Bengals, who just placed corner Kirkpatrick on IR Friday and declared backup Tony McRae out for this game, it could be a serious issue, even if Brown doesn't play.
"They do a lot of things with their personnel," Lewis said.
THE QUOTES
• "I am not going to talk about that until Monday if it happens. But like I said, I am not looking forward to the playoffs because we have to take care of our business first." -- Roethlisberger on his team's chances in the playoffs
• "Coaches don't worry about their futures. They got into coaching and their future is just day-to-day-to-day. That's all it is. So, you know? It's not a worry or concern of mine.” -- Lewis on if he'll be the Bengals' head coach beyond Sunday
• “You go from the Patriots game where I thought I was the man to the New Orleans game. I gave my best effort, tried my hardest. Sometimes plays don’t go your way. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. That was one of the tougher ones.” -- Joe Haden
THE TEN DATA POINTS
• Conner needs 91 rushing yards and 33 receiving yards to reach 1,000 rushing and 500 receiving this season. He would be the ninth Steelers running back to top 1,000 yards rushing in a season.
• Brown's next touchdown will be his 80th and tie him with Jerome Bettis for third-most in team history.
• Roethlisberger needs 93 yards to become the sixth player in NFL history with 56,000 or more passing yards.
• Roethlisberer and Brown are three completions short of reaching 800 together, the second-most in NFL history. Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison are No. 1 with 953.
• Brown needs one touchdown to match Willie Parker's team record of 16 set in 2006.
• Smith-Schuster has eight 100-yard games, putting him one shy of Brown's team record of nine 100-yard receiving games in a season.
• Driskel hasn't topped 170 passing yards in any of his three starts.
• The Bengals have allowed a league-high 10 touchdown catches by opposing tight ends this season.
• The Bengals allow a league-worst 29.3 points per game.
• The Steelers have won their past 10 regular season home finales.
THE FANTASY FREE PLAY
Here are projections for the top 10 fantasy players in this game.
- Roethlisberger, 298 passing yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions
- Conner, 16 carries, 93 yards, one touchdown, four receptions, 38 yards
- Mixon, 19 carries, 81 yards, four receptions, 25 yards
- Brown, seven receptions, 85 yards, one touchdown
- Driskel, 178 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception, three rushes, 14 yards
- Smith-Schuster, six receptions, 79 yards
- C.J. Uzomah, five receptions, 45 yards, one touchdown
- Vance McDonald, four receptions, 46 yards, one touchdown
- John Ross, three receptions, 39 yards
- Jaylen Samuels, three carries, 14 yards, two receptions, 17 yards
THE STAFF PICKS
Our football coverage team offers predictions for both Steelers-Bengals and Browns-Ravens:
Dale Lolley: The Steelers have played two of their best games all season in the past two weeks against the Patriots and Saints. In fact, you could make the argument that they played their very best game last week in New Orleans and still came away 31-28 losers. That's what happens against good teams at home, especially when that team is gifted two touchdowns. The Steelers are where they are in terms of their playoff situation. But I expect them to come out and take care of business against a Bengals team that, quite simply, is missing too many offensive pieces to challenge the Steelers defensively. Cincinnati's defense has played better since Lewis took over playcalling, but it's still bad. As for the game in Baltimore, the Ravens have lost with a chance at the playoffs in each of the past two seasons. They also did so in 2013, so there's a history of blowing these games. It will come down to which team makes a big turnover, and I actually like the Browns a little better on that side of it. They're plus-9 while the Ravens are minus-5. But it will be difficult for the Browns, who are 2-5 on the road:
Steelers, 29-10
Browns, 23-20
Christopher Carter: Regardless of Brown's status, I expect Roethlisberger to come out firing against the Bengals and to build a two-score lead. The Bengals are reeling with injuries and limping into the offseason. The Steelers cannot afford another letdown like what happened in Oakland, but I don't expect a repeat. Between Conner and Samuels, it could be a big day on the ground. Only way the Steelers lose is if they have several turnovers, special teams gaffes and/or Roethlisberger gets hurt. Meanwhile, I do think the Browns have a coin-flip of a chance against the Ravens, but after several late season letdowns by the Ravens in recent years, I expect them to finish the job.
Steelers, 34-12
Ravens, 20-17
Matt Sunday: Even though the Steelers' depth at receiver will be tested with Brown likely out Sunday, they'll get to test the Bengals' depth at ... just about everything. Roethlisberger will still be able to connect around the field, making sure the Steelers hold up their end of the playoff bargain. The actually interesting game will be the one being played between the Browns and the other Browns. Vegas might love the Ravens right now, but the Browns are arguably the best team in the division at this point of the season. Against the odds, I like the Steelers' chances to see a miracle.
Steelers, 27-13
Browns, 23-17
Dejan Kovacevic: You've read all the hard analysis. You've checked with the handicappers. But here's all you need to know about Sunday: I just booked a hockey flight for California in the second week of January. Non-refundable fares. Booked hotels, too. Non-refundable rates. Which means I'll be out there covering the Penguins while the Steelers should be in the second week of AFC playoffs. And for that reason alone, the Steelers will torment me by somehow advancing through this weekend and onward to that stage. ... You're welcome, Nation.
Steelers, 35-11
Browns, 15-14