Tim Benz: Steelers’ playoff optimism is legit. But don’t ‘unpack’ those bags until it’s proven true

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was asked Tuesday about the importance of the team finally winning a playoff game for the first time since the 2016-17 season.

It’s a slump that has now lasted almost a decade. It is hanging over the entire franchise and Tomlin’s personal legacy.

“I’m certainly not going to unpack my bags on the collective’s bed,” Tomlin replied.

Based on some reaction I heard after Sunday’s victory to clinch the AFC North over Baltimore, many in the local media seem willing to carry Tomlin’s bags for him.

On WDVE on Monday morning, there was a discussion about how that victory Sunday night should be viewed as a playoff win.

It shouldn’t. That was just a win to qualify for the playoffs. It only became a play-in game in the first place because of Pittsburgh’s dubious loss in Cleveland the week before.

If the Ravens had won it, would those of us in Pittsburgh be so willing to have added an extra playoff win to John Harbaugh’s ledger, and an extra loss to Tomlin’s?

Nah. Didn’t think so.

On 93.7 The Fan, morning host Adam Crowley gave Mike Tomlin an “A-plus” for the regular season.

A-plus grades shouldn’t be awarded to coaches who happen to win C-minus divisions and lose to D-minus teams like the Browns and Bengals. Not to mention the Steelers were 1-5 against playoff teams this year.

But it’s always nice to have a generous professor to pump up the ol’ GPA from time to time. I certainly needed one or two of those when I was in college.

The goalposts may have been moving when Baltimore’s Tyler Loop missed his game-deciding field goal Sunday night. That doesn’t mean we have to move them when evaluating Tomlin and his team throughout this week.

Where is all of this is coming from? Are people so concerned about what looms in the playoffs that we have to drop the bar for celebration of accomplishment even lower than what we have over the last decade or so?

The victory over Baltimore was exhilarating. I get it. It was a great game — a really exciting way to enter the playoffs. No doubt.

The 2023 campaign ended in a similar fashion with Mason Rudolph’s mad dash to the finish line to save what had been a sinking season over the last few weeks.

The difference was that the Steelers had to go to Buffalo that year, in the middle of a blizzard, to play Josh Allen and the Bills as a wild-card team. No one genuinely thought they were going to win that game.

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This year, the Steelers (10-7) enter the postseason as division champions, with the momentum of a 4-1 record since Dec. 7, at home against the Houston Texans (12-5) Monday night.

The Steelers have never lost a Monday night game at home under Tomlin. The Texans have never won a road playoff game.

There are lots of reasons to believe that the underdog Steelers can cover the 3.5-point spread and even pull off the home upset. Optimism should be high.

I’m not betting my money on that, but I won’t try to talk you out of doing so.

I understand why people got so drunk on the Baltimore win. It was a heckuva party — a true classic in Acrisure Stadium history.

That said, we shouldn’t be inebriated from it this far into the next week. Maybe that Monday morning hangover from Loop’s missed kick blurred some initial judgment of the Steelers’ achievements.

Now it’s time to sober up.

The Steelers haven’t changed anything from the results of their previous eight seasons because the playoffs haven’t started yet. You can’t be better than 10-7 and a first-round playoff loss (as was the case the past two years) when the playoff game hasn’t even begun yet.

The win over Baltimore was the Feast of the Seven Fishes. We should feel fat and happy.

Christmas Day is coming Monday night, though. That’s when Pittsburgh will either get some stocking stuffers or a lump of playoff coal.

Again.

I’m not attempting to rain on anyone’s parade. I’m just trying to remind everyone that parades aren’t thrown for regular-season wins.

In Pittsburgh, we never used to throw them at all unless championships were won. However, given that we are enduring the longest postseason-win drought in over half a century, go ahead and strike up the band if they beat Houston.

Until then, we should all keep our bags packed.

Listen: Tim Benz and Chris Adamski discuss Mike Tomlin’s press conference Tuesday and Monday night’s playoff game against the Houston Texans