Ravens and Chiefs fans were treated to blowout wins on Christmas Day, while fans of the Steelers and Texans were forced to watch games that probably felt as good as opening a present that immediately went on your return list.
Baltimore and Kansas City won Wednesday’s games by a combined score of 60-12. While all four teams are heading to the postseason, it sure looked like the Ravens and Chiefs are in a different weight class than the Steelers and Texans, who lost games against the same teams just four days earlier (Baltimore whipped the Steelers in Week 16, while the Texans played the Chiefs tough before falling short).
Similar to this past Saturday’s doubleheader, Wednesday’s games also impacted the AFC playoff picture. Let’s take a look at how Wednesday’s games impacted the four teams that played as well as a few other teams that were either positively or negatively impacted by the day’s results.
Chiefs
Kansas City achieved their goal of locking up the coveted No. 1 seed and the playoff bye that comes with it. The two-time defending champs will be home for the playoffs.
The Chiefs also made history by becoming the eighth team in NFL history to win at least 15 regular-season games. Ironically, the last five teams that won at least 15 games fell short in their quest to win the Super Bowl. In fact, the last team to win at least 15 games and win the Super Bowl is the iconic 1985 Bears, who followed in the 1984 49ers’ footsteps as a 15-win Super Bowl championship team.
In Wednesday’s 29-10 win, the Chiefs looked as good as they ever have during the Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes era. Mahomes torched the Steelers for three touchdowns. Mahomes is taking full advantage of a receiving corps that overwhelmed Pittsburgh’s defense. Speedsters Xavier Worthy, Marquise Brown and tight end Travis Kelce each had big days while showing what the Chiefs’ offense is capable of moving forward.
While the Chiefs celebrated winning the No. 1 seed afterwards, the Bills were coming to grips with the fact that, should they face the Chiefs in the playoffs, it will take place in Kansas City. But the Bills (who had a slim but outside shot at getting the No. 1 seed entering Wednesday) received an undesirable outcome in Pittsburgh, it paled in comparison to what the outcome means to the Bengals, who saw their playoff chances take a nosedive.
With the No. 1 seed secured, it’s assumed that Reid will bench most of his key players for the Chiefs’ regular season finale against the Broncos. That’s bad news for the Bengals, who need to defeat Denver this Saturday and have the Broncos lose to Kansas City in Week 18 to make the playoffs (in addition to one loss apiece from Miami and Indianapolis in the season’s final two weeks).
It’s happened before, a team resting key players defeating a playoff-hopeful team in the season’s final week The 2004 Steelers, for example, defeated the playoff-hopeful Bills during the season’s final weekend despite resting many starters. But the odds of that happening are highly unlikely.
Texans
Houston entered the day with the AFC’s No. 4, and it remains that way despite Wednesday’s blowout loss. The loss all but confirmed that the Texans will continue to be the No. 4 when the playoffs begin two weeks from now. The Texans can’t catch the three teams ahead of them, and as the AFC South champions, they can’t be seeded any lower than they currently are.
The Texans’ wild-card opponent is becoming more clear, too. As it currently stands, the Texans would host the Steelers, which would be a rematch of Houston’s 30-6 trouncing of Pittsburgh back in Week 4 of the 2023 season. The Chargers and Broncos are also possible wild card opponents for Houston. Baltimore is, too, but that would require the Ravens losing at home to the 3-12 Browns in Week 18. The Browns did upset the Ravens earlier this week, but I wouldn’t expect lighting to strike twice.
Regardless of who their opponent is, Houston needs to play better if it wants its season to go beyond the wild card round. The Texans struggled on Wednesday without Tank Dell, their talented receiver who was lost for the year following this past Saturday’s severe leg injury. C.J. Stroud threw for under 200 yards, failed to completed 60% of his passes and was sacked five times. Houston’s running game was non-existent, and its defense was no match for Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, who combined to amass 407 total yards and four touchdowns on Wednesday.
Steelers
A dozen days ago, the Steelers were 10-3 and enjoying a two game lead over Baltimore in the AFC North division standings. Today, Pittsburgh is 10-6 and are currently looking up at Baltimore in the standings.
What happened? The Steelers’ offense is turning the ball over. Russell Wilson in particular has struggled to take care of the ball. He turned the ball over twice in Week 16 that led to 14 points in a loss to Baltimore. On Wednesday, Wilson threw a pick in the end zone late in the first quarter with the Steelers trying to dig themselves out of a 13-0 hole. Down 22-10 in the fourth quarter, a fumble by tight end Pat Freiermuth set up the Chiefs’ game clinching score.
Defensively, the Steelers aren’t capitalizing on possible turnover opportunities (linebacker Patrick Queen failed to corral a Mahomes pass that would have given Pittsburgh the ball deep in Kansas City territory). They’re also struggling to defend the pass, allowing six touchdown passes in the their past two games.
These are all cause for concern, but there are some silver linings for Mike Tomlin and his team. The Steelers did just play three games in 11 days against three of the NFL’s best teams in the Eagles, Ravens and Chiefs. They went 0-3 in those games, and were beaten by double digits in each game. But each game wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter; Pittsburgh just made a costly mistake on offense in the fourth quarter of each game, and that was that. The Steelers need to learn how to finish against the league’s upper echelon teams.
Those losses surely hurt, but from a physical standpoint, Pittsburgh came out of the past two weeks about as healthy as a team that played that many games can. Joey Porter Jr. was the only starter who sustained an injury over that span (a knee injury in Week 16) that could keep him sidelined until the playoffs.
The Steelers also rediscovered their running game on Wednesday. Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren combined to run for 145 of the Steelers’ 202 yards (yes, the Steelers lost despite running for over 200 yards). In Warren, Harris and Wilson (who ran for 55 yards and a score in Week 17), Pittsburgh possess one of the top rushing attacks of any playoff bound team. That’s always a good thing to have, especially with cold weather playoff games on the horizon.
Pittsburgh now has 11 days between their loss to the Chiefs and their regular season finale against the Bengals. While the last three weeks were brutal, the Steelers now have a chance to rest, reset and refocus on what lies ahead, starting with Cincinnati on January 5.
Ravens
Three weeks ago, prior to departing for their bye week, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told his team to be prepared to go on a run upon their return, starting with their Week 15 game against the struggling Giants.
Harbaugh’s words them have certainly come to fruition. Baltimore has won three straight games following its bye and has slingshot into the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoff standings. The Ravens would host the Chargers in “Harbaugh Bowl IV.” Baltimore posted a 30-23 win in Los Angeles when the two teams faced off back in Week 12.
The Ravens have been a Super Bowl contender all year, but they seemed to get in their own way way too often during their 8-5 start, whether it was missed opportunities, damming turnovers and missed kicks. Those things aren’t happening now. The Ravens dominated each of their last three opponents and once again appear to be a serious threat to Kansas City’s crown.
There are several reasons for Baltimore’s resurgence (the Ravens’ much maligned defense, for example, has held each of its last three opponents to under 200 yards passing), but the two biggest reasons for the team’s emergence is the continued brilliance of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. On Wednesday, Jackson strengthened his MVP case while breaking Michael Vick’s record for the most career rushing yards for a quarterback. Henry, who rumbled for 147 yards and a score against the Texans, is having his best season since his 2,000-yard campaign back in 2020.
Assuming they take care of their business in Week 18, the Ravens will win the AFC North and will host either the Steelers, Chargers or Broncos in the wild card round. The Ravens are hoping that that game will be the start of a journey that will end in New Orleans, which ironically is the site of Baltimore’s most recent Super Bowl win.