When all is said and done, it goes without saying that the Pittsburgh Steelers only have themselves to blame for the fact that they are now sitting at home preparing to watch 14 other teams participate in the playoffs over the next month. They went just 9-8 on the season, and in many years, that’s not going to be enough.
It wasn’t this year, at least not for Pittsburgh, even if four other teams with a record of 9-8 or worse will be playing this weekend. They had their chances. They did what they needed to do in the final month, the final week.