3 games to watch in Week 16 which give perspective on the Steelers’ remaining season

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off of a well-timed victory over a quality opponent. With the division still wide open, and the Steelers having games against two of the three teams, the AFC North and other potential playoff teams will be the focus beyond the Steelers games from this point on. Highlighting the opponents the Steelers have left, there will be other games to keep an eye on since there is so little of the season left. First off, lets check out how the three games from last week ended up. All three games came down to the final seconds with the largest margin of victory coming in overtime.

Kansas City Chiefs (34) at Los Angeles Chargers (28) (OT)

As much as I hate it for my team when they have to play, it’s games like this as an NFL fan that makes me like Thursday Night Football. While it seemed that the Chargers had it in hand, Kansas City stormed back to tie the game late and then not even let Los Angeles touch the ball in overtime. The worst part is the Chiefs then got an extra three days of rest before having to face the Steelers next week.

Las Vegas Raiders (16) at Cleveland Browns (14)

Playing the game two days later due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Browns organization, it wasn’t that Cleveland got a lot of players back. They did have a better chance to win this game with Nick Mullens as I’m sure Baker Mayfield would have found a way to screw it up even worse. But in a game where it seemed like both teams wanted to blow it, the difference came down to the Raiders kicker being able to still hit a kick after the timeout was called on the first attempt to end the game while the Browns kicker was unable to do so at the end of the first half.

Green Bay Packers (31) at Baltimore Ravens (30)

Down two touchdowns with five minutes remaining in the game, Baltimore came back and gave themselves a chance. But for the second time in three weeks, they opted to go for two and the win rather than fight in overtime. While those kinds of decisions worked out for them early in the season, the Ravens lost the two games this time. I’m still not sure with 0:45 left that Rodgers and the Packers wouldn’t have still been able to pull it out with a field goal if it was needed.

For Week 16, here are the three games which could give the most perspective on what the Steelers can expect with their final three opponents:

Cleveland Browns at Green Bay Packers

Saturday at 4:30 PM on FOX/NFLN

The Browns have an extra-short week after getting their game moved to Monday and then playing again on Saturday. It’s unclear who all is going to make it back for the game and who isn’t, but regardless if they had every player available it would still be a pretty big task to go into Lambeau and beat the Packers.

Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals

Sunday at 1:00 PM on CBS

It’s another one of those games were the good news is one team will lose but the bad news is one will have to win. With the Ravens being the only team from this game the Steelers have yet to play the season, seeing Cincinnati drop a game would at least take care of things beyond the Steelers control.

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots

Sunday at 1:00 PM on CBS

We’ve reached the point of the season we were out of future opponents, so it’s time to highlight other games that affects the AFC playoff race. Since the AFC North has already been taken care of, this AFC East matchup is quite intriguing. With New England being the team in front of the division and the Bills only being up 0.5 games on the Steelers, how this game plays out will determine who Steelers fans will be rooting against even more in the final two weeks.

So there are the three games which can give Steelers fans an indication as to where they stand for the remainder of the 2021 season. As teams enter the final weeks of the season, the playoff picture becomes a little more clear.

Which of these other games will be the most telling as it pertains to the 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers? Make sure you vote in the poll and give your thoughts in the comments below.