The Steelers might have blown their chance at making the NFL playoffs

There were a few twists and turns in the Steelers’ 31-28 loss against the New Orleans Saints that might have knocked them out of playoff contention — some that were undeserved and some that were their own doing.

Their biggest mistake came in the fourth quarter when they had a 28-24 lead.

They a shot themselves in the foot with a fake punt call that almost worked, but fullback Roosevelt Nix was just short of the first-down marker — even though he thought he got it.

Pittsburgh had the lead when it strangely decided to call this play at its own 42-yard line. The Steelers had held New Orleans to two punts and a blocked field goal on their previous drives — it’s not like the Steelers defense was completely overwhelmed at that point in the game. Pittsburgh was up four points with just over four minutes left in the game. The turnover on downs gave the Saints the ball on the Pittsburgh 46-yard line and they ended up taking the lead on the ensuing drive.

The decision to go for it might not have been terrible, but a fake punt is a difficult way to gain yardage. They were probably better off just lining up their offense and running a “real” play.

Here’s what Mike Tomlin had to say about it after the game, via Behind the Steel Curtain:

“I just wanted to be aggressive. I wanted to ensure that we had an opportunity to win the game. I thought. First of all I liked the play, the concept, I thought we had a chance to get it. But I thought where the game was and the time which was left in the game, I thought that if we did not stop them, that we would have an opportunity to have the ball last, and we did. But obviously, unsuccessful nonetheless.”

While Nix’s fumble was bad, the two penalties on Joe Haden arguably had a bigger impact on their loss.

Joe Haden was involved in two of the biggest plays of the game. On the Saints’ second drive of the game, Haden was called for a 33-yard pass interference while covering running back Alvin Kamara in the end zone.

It was ... nothing close to being pass interference. Haden barely touched Kamara and the ball was overthrown, but the referees still threw a flag. On the very next play, Mark Ingram scored a 1-yard touchdown to put the Saints up 7-3 in the first quarter.

The penalty was thrown on third down, too. Just a brutal way to give up points.

Haden’s next penalty came when the game was actually on the line, after the Steelers’ fake punt failed. He was lined up against Michael Thomas in the slot on fourth-and-2 and got just a little too grabby with him, resulting in a defensive pass interference penalty and an automatic first down for the Saints.

Five plays later, Drew Brees threw the final dagger to Thomas — a 1-yard touchdown that barely passed the end zone line.

On fourth-and-15 on the Steelers’ final drive of the game, Antonio Brown made an incredible catch to move the chains and keep hope alive. He was able to tap his toes along the sideline and barely bring the ball in.

Pittsburgh had a chance to get into field position for a game-winning field goal after that, but it ended in disaster. JuJu Smith-Schuster caught a pass that would’ve put the Steelers right outside field goal range with about 40 seconds left. Unfortunately for him, he fumbled and it was recovered by the Saints to end the game.

The Steelers were in the driver’s seat for the AFC North crown, but now they need some help to get into the playoffs — they fell from the fourth seed all the way to the No. 8 seed with their loss against the Saints.

There are two things that can happen in order to make the playoffs. They need to handle business and beat Cincinnati, and they need the Browns to beat the Ravens on the road — or they need the Titans and the Colts to TIE in their Week 17 matchup.

Either way, the fumble, the fake punt, and the two calls against Joe Haden made it much harder for the Steelers to get into the playoffs.