NFL Playoffs: Do The Steelers Look Like Super Bowl Winners?

The Steelers were impressively resilient in coming back from a 21-7 deficit at home to score a 31-24 victory against the Ravens on Saturday. But does that resilience mark Pittsburgh as a Super Bowl contender that shares characteristics with past Super Bowl winners from the Steel City?

First, these Steelers' first playoff win wasn't all that different from the Steelers teams that have hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in the past decade. The 2005 Steelers won their first game, a wild card matchup with the Bengals, by a 31-17 count; the 2008 Steelers — who, like the 2010 Steelers, were the AFC North champions and the second seed in the AFC — beat the Chargers 35-24 in their first game. The Steelers were down early in both games, too: the Bengals had a 10-0 lead after the first quarter, while the Chargers scored first and led 7-0.

In 2008, the season this Steelers season best resembles, the sixth-seeded Ravens knocked off the top-seeded Titans to set up an AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field. For that to happen this year, the Steelers will have to hope the Jets can topple the mighty Patriots today.

The Steelers won't mind seeing the Patriots go in any case: Pittsburgh's 0-2 in its only two playoff meetings with New England since 2000, both AFC Championship Games, and the Patriots routed the Steelers earlier this year, gutting them 39-26 in a November game at Heinz Field that wasn't nearly as close as the score suggests.

Of course, the Jets present another challenge: New York also scored a win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh, with a 22-17 Week 15 win.