Not Dead Yet

Hey, guess what, we're not dead yet. Yes we've lost 3 in a row. But let's look at what else is happening in the league before we bury the 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Current Wild Card Race

5. Denver (7-4)

6. Jacksonville (6-5)

7. Baltimore (6-5)

8. Pittsburgh (6-5)

9. Miami (5-6)

10. NY Jets (5-6)

11. Tennessee (5-6)

12. Houston (5-6)

We'll start close to home then go through the other 7 teams that are battling for the 2 wild card spots.

Remaining Games:

Oakland

@ Cleveland

Green Bay

Baltimore

@ Miami

Combined record of remaining teams: 22-33

Remaining teams with winning records: 2

Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 2

Remaining Home Games: 3

Remaining Games:

@ Kansas City

@ Indianapolis

Oakland

@ Philadelphia

Kansas City

Combined record of remaining teams: 27 - 28

Remaining teams with winning records: 2

Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 1

Remaining Home Games: 2

Remaining Games:

Houston

Miami

Indianapolis

@ New England

@ Cleveland

Combined record of remaining teams: 29 - 26

Remaining teams with winning records: 2

Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 4

Remaining Home Games: 3

Remaining Games:

@ Green Bay

Detroit

Chicago

@ Pittsburgh

@ Oakland

Combined record of remaining teams: 22 - 33

Remaining teams with winning records: 1

Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 1

Remaining Home Games: 2

Remaining Games:

New England

@ Jacksonville

@ Tennessee

Houston

Pittsburgh

Combined record of remaining teams: 29 - 26

Remaining teams with winning records: 3

Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 5

Remaining Home Games: 3

Remaining Games:

@ Buffalo

@ Tampa Bay

Atlanta

@ Indianapolis

Cincinnati

Combined record of remaining teams: 30 - 25

Remaining teams with winning records: 3

Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 2

Remaining Home Games: 2

Remaining Games:

@ Indianapolis

St. Louis

Miami

San Diego

@ Seattle

Combined record of remaining teams: 29 - 26

Remaining teams with winning records: 2

Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 3

Remaining Home Games: 3

Remaining Games:

@ Jacksonville

Seattle

@ St. Louis

@ Miami

New England

Combined record of remaining teams: 23 - 32

Remaining teams with winning records: 2

Remaining teams in AFC Playoff race: 3

Remaining Home Games: 2

As you can see, the Steelers and Ravens have the easiest remaining schedules of the 8 teams in the race. Miami plays all 5 of their remaining games against teams in the AFC playoff hunt. Jacksonville has 4 of their remaining games against teams in the playoff race. The Steelers have head-to-head tiebreakers on Denver and Tennessee if it would come to that. They can also secure a head-to-head tiebreaker on Miami by beating them the last week of the season. No idea how the tiebreak situation with Baltimore would go down, but if we beat them head-to-head and win out, we'll be a game ahead of them.

Can the Steelers get things turned around? Of course. Remember, in 2006 things were looking down and we were sitting at 7-5, then we went on a big run and didn't lose the rest of the year. If Polamalu and Ben come back this week, we'll be a completely different team. Everyone else in the race has very losable games, and we've got two games to get our ducks in a row before Green Bay comes to town.

So don't go giving up on this season just yet. We're still in the thick of things and with a great December, could very well be playing in January.