By the Numbers: The significance of the Steelers defeating the 49ers Sunday

When the Pittsburgh Steelers open up Heinz Field for the 2015 regular season against the NFC's San Francisco 49ers, it is far from just another Week 2 game against an inter-conference opponent. In fact, according to the fine folks at Number-Fire.com, this game has some serious consequences for the Steelers' playoff/Super Bowl hopes for 2015.

The Steelers vs. 49ers game already has fans feeling the grip of a high intensity situation as the thought of the black and gold coming out of the gate to an 0-2 record with the league's most difficult schedule has the feel of an uphill battle even the team's prolific offense might not be able to overcome.

Nonetheless, for those who enjoy more data driven analysis in terms of the importance of the game this Sunday, take a look at the percentages of the Steelers playoff, division title and Super Bowl, hopes if they win the game Sunday:

Playoffs
* With Win: 26.36%
* With Loss: 15.08%

Division
* With Win: 20.28%
* With Loss: 11.92%

Super Bowl
* With Win: 1.52%
* With Loss: 0.82%

Look at those numbers closely and you will see their playoff chances will take a nose dive with a loss, along with their odds of winning the division or advancing to the Super Bowl with a chance to win the franchise's 7th Lombardi trophy.

Despite these results being very raw, data driven, analytics, fans everywhere know how important it is for the team to not just avoid the 0-2 start, but to also "hold serve" at Heinz Field in front of the Terrible Towel waving fans at Heinz Field. If the team were to drop this Week 2 game, would it be the end of the world? Absolutely not, but it would provide a steep hill for the team to climb with a ridiculously challenging schedule ahead of them.