Naturally, Steelers fans want Cincinnati (at Houston), Cleveland (at Atlanta) and Baltimore (at New Orleans) to lose.
It's certainly possible. Likely? Ehhh...have you seen the way New Orleans has been playing lately?
A loss for all three of them would put the 7-4 Steelers atop the division, followed by the 6-4-1 Bengals, the 6-5 Ravens and the 6-5 Browns. The surprising loss the Chiefs suffered on Thursday at the hands of the previously winless Oakland Raiders opened up the field a bit for the AFC wild-card race, with all four AFC North teams now in play, along with the Chiefs (7-4), the Dolphins (6-4 heading into Week 12), the Chargers (6-4), the Texans (5-5) and the Bills (5-5).
It's a muddled race, but clearly one that won't have two 8-7 teams vying for the final spot this year.
As Ike Taylor recently said, just win and you don't have to worry about it. The Steelers can't win this weekend, they can only watch what looks to be a very exciting slate of matchups replete with playoff implications. Should every team in the AFC North win this weekend, Cincinnati would remain on top with the Steelers, owning a 6-3 conference record. It really doesn't matter since they'd all essentially be a half-game behind Cincinnati for the top spot in the division.
The playoff picture will grow even more muddy as the weekend progresses, but things are upbeat for the Steelers, having gotten past a bad loss to the Jets (one that may continue to haunt them) by rebounding in a comeback win over the Titans.
The Steelers have the Saints on their short week Nov. 30 in Pittsburgh and, depending on whether they're able to get things together after a brutal loss at home to Cincinnati, New Orleans will be looking to avoid losing three consecutive games against AFC North opponents and going 1-3 against this division for the season.