Tim Benz: Don't fret over a potential Steelers-Ravens Round 3, embrace it

When the dust settles on the AFC playoff bracket, one of three things is going to happen to the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6) after their regular season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals (8-8) on Saturday night.

• They could win the AFC North and host a home playoff game next week. That would require a victory over the Bengals and the 3-13 Cleveland Browns winning in Baltimore against the 11-5 Ravens. While incredibly unlikely, that’s the most preferred option.

• They could go to Houston to face the AFC South Division champion Texans as the conference’s top wild-card team. That result could occur by virtue of a win over the Bengals or a loss to Cincy as well as an upset by the 4-12 Las Vegas Raiders over the visiting Los Angeles Chargers (10-6).

• They could lose to Cincinnati (who is favored by 1½ points in Pittsburgh), and the Chargers could beat the Raiders as expected. That would place the Steelers in Baltimore as the second wild card for a 3-6 matchup against a Ravens team that just defeated the Black and Gold 34-17 on Dec. 21 in Maryland.

As bizarre as it sounds, that second wild-card option is the one I want if the Steelers don’t win the division: Pack up for a return trip to Baltimore!

Granted, from a football perspective, that makes no sense. The Texans are 9-7. They are banged up. They have lost three of their past five games. They are only in the postseason by way of winning a soft division. They have just one win over a current playoff team — a 23-20 win over Buffalo in Week 5. Their point differential is minus-9. Baltimore’s is plus-132.

Pittsburgh might be favored in Houston. After how the Ravens dispatched the Steelers 10 days ago, they’d be heavy underdogs in Baltimore.

Indeed, the Steelers would have a much better chance of beating the Texans in the first round of the playoffs than they would at M&T Bank Stadium.

If that’s all we are looking for out of this 2024 season for the Steelers, then let it happen. Maybe the Steelers can finally get that elusive playoff win they have been seeking since 2016 if they visit Houston.

What a celebration that would bring, eh? Lose three of four (or four in a row) to close out the year. Then, beat a 9-8 or 10-7 Houston team that stagnated after last year’s emergence, only to get dropkicked in Kansas City or Buffalo the next week.

A lofty accomplishment indeed. Is the parade going to come down to Point State Park from the Boulevard of the Allies, or is it going to take a different route? Do you think Troy Polamalu will come back to body surf again?

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Sure, I get it. For years, the public narrative has been, “Just get a playoff win again!” That said, if we ever needed evidence that Mike Tomlin’s credo of “The standard is the standard” has been diluted, making a lot over breaking the seven-year drought under those potential circumstances would certainly qualify.

Conversely, beating Baltimore in Baltimore would be something memorable. Derailing the Ravens’ playoff hopes in their own building, after doing so three times in Pittsburgh — or after the Ravens did so here to the Steelers in 2014-15 — would feel like more of an accomplishment. That would be a plant-the-flag, wave the Terrible Towel kind of result.

It’d be like upsetting the Broncos in Mile High Stadium back in 1984, or the Oilers in the Astrodome in 1989, or the Bengals in Cincinnati in 2005.

Winning in Houston in the first round would just be like checking a box. OK. You did it. Now what? Are you gonna cover a two-touchdown spread through the backdoor in Arrowhead a week later?

Hey, reach for the stars!

But a win in Baltimore to send a baffled John Harbaugh home after one playoff game? To make Lamar Jackson wonder if that Steelers hex was really gone after all?

Pfft! The Steelers could lose by 50 in K.C. the next week, and the season would still feel like it ended on a high note.

I mean, I doubt that could ever happen. If the Steelers do end up in Baltimore again in two weeks, I’d expect another double-digit win from the Ravens.

Although, I sure would enjoy the stakes a lot more. It would feel like much more was on the line, and the win — or loss — would have a deeper meaning.

Ah, never mind. I’m probably way off on this one. The Steelers should just go to Houston after limping through the last month of the regular season and register an enthralling 13-10 win in the first round. We’ll treat it like a replay of Super Bowl XLIII and talk ourselves into how the franchise is truly back now and why the second time around against the Chiefs a week later in Kansas City will be totally different.

I’m sure that’ll turn out great.

Don’t get me wrong. From Mike Tomlin’s point of view, he should be chasing a win over the Bengals and the No. 5 seed. It’s the most prudent thing to do. But on an emotional level, if the Steelers lose and end up in Baltimore, so what? It’s better theater.

Give me Round 3 against the Ravens and dream big.