The best, most entertaining football weekend of the year has arrived: It’s the Wild Card round, and we’ve got three days of win-or-go-home football ahead of us.
This year’s AFC playoff picture has had it all. First, the Bengals earned their first playoff win in 31 years as they held off a late push from the Raiders.
To conclude it all, Sunday night’s AFC Wild Card finale brings a lop-sided matchup between Pittsburgh and Kansas City in what will be Big Ben’s final game… for real this time… right?
Considering parity went undefeated in 2021, anything can happen.
Let’s dig in.
*All betting figures current as of publication.
PITTSBURGH STEELERS (7) AT KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (2)
Kickoff: Sunday, Jan. 16 @ 8:15 p.m. ET
Betting lines: Chiefs favoured by 13 | O/U: 46
This is the end for Big Ben… right?
A week ago, Ben Roethlisberger was preparing for what he (and we) believed would be his final NFL game. After a magical Week 17 win against Cleveland at home, Roethlisberger and the Steelers arrived in Baltimore for the season finale with just a nine per cent shot at the post-season. The farewell messages were flowing like he’d already hung up the cleats.
And then the Colts lost to the Jaguars.
And then Pittsburgh edged the Ravens in overtime.
And then the Chargers and Raiders didn’t tie.
Suddenly, Big Ben’s not done yet… technically.
Leave it to the 39-year-old Steeler to give us as blunt a game preview as it gets:
“We probably aren’t supposed to be here. We’re probably not a very good football team,” Roethlisberger told reporters in Pittsburgh this week, his tone light and delivery direct. “Of 14 teams that are in [the playoffs] we’re probably No. 14. We’re double-digit underdogs in the playoffs, so let’s just play and have fun and see what happens."
While Roethlisberger is speaking the truth, there’s obviously a method to his madness – he’s not throwing in that terrible towel. After all, as we’ve seen time and time again, what’s more dangerous than a team hitting the field with nothing to lose?
Matchup to watch: Patrick Mahomes vs. Steelers’ lethal pass rush
When you have an offence as dynamic as Kansas City’s, there are so many possible x-factors that could break this game wide open. Tyreek Hill’s health, Travis Kelce’s dominance, how secondary receivers like Byron Pringle and Mecole Hardman might step up…
But while Patrick Mahomes’ offensive weapons will undoubtedly put on a show, the most exciting player on the field might just be a defender: Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt.
"We need to win this game and that’s what we’re here to do,” Watt said earlier this week. “I’m willing to take anybody along with me because I am not ready to go home.”
Week in and week out, we’ve watched as Watt has done exactly that, keeping this team in contention and single-handedly made a mess of opponents’ offensive game plans, wreaking havoc on o-lines and making QBs think twice about holding on to the ball for very long.
Watt registered a whopping 22.5 sacks in the 2021 regular season, tying the great Michael Strahan’s official single-season record. That he did so in just 15 games, missing two with injury, points to just how special a player he is and how big an impact he can have every time he's on the field.
If the seventh-seed Steelers have any chance at stirring up an upset against the second-seed Chiefs, it’ll be because of Watt.
