(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin isn’t into “what-ifs?” There’s really no point.

Sure, the Pittsburgh Steelers coach could wring his hands over the impossibly thin line between victory and defeat, one his team received an up-close look at yet again in a riveting 26-24 win over Baltimore on Sunday night that clinched Pittsburgh’s first AFC North title in five years.

Tomlin could ponder an alternate reality where Baltimore rookie kicker Tyler Loop drills the 44-yard game-winning field goal instead of having it drift right, a result that would have led to some serious soul-searching in Pittsburgh on Monday rather than the giddy anxiety associated with preparing for the playoffs.

Only he won’t. Doing so would merely be a waste of energy and time, something the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach learned to avoid long ago.

And if Loop’s kick splits the uprights, the Ravens would be facing fifth-seeded Houston next Monday.

Only it didn’t.

So it’s Baltimore — and not Pittsburgh — that got an early start on what could be an eventful offseason. And it’s Pittsburgh — and not Baltimore — that enters the 14-team tournament with optimism that feels earned after surviving a chaotic fourth quarter that featured four lead changes, a sprinkling of vintage Aaron Rodgers and a dash of hope that its long postseason playoff victory drought may finally end.

“It’s going to give us some belief,” Rodgers said.

And the Steelers think a little belief — along with the return of suspended wide receiver DK Metcalf — could go a long way to ending a six-game playoff skid that at times has felt like an anchor.

Oddsmakers aren’t so sure, making the white-hot and fifth-seeded Texans (12-5) the early favorite even though Houston has never won a road playoff game in its 24-year history.

That’s fine by Rodgers, who knows a thing or two about sneaking in the playoffs and going on a run. Fifteen years ago, Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers earned a playoff spot on the final day of the season, then won three straight road games to reach the Super Bowl, where they beat Pittsburgh to earn the franchise’s fourth Lombardi Trophy.

There’s a long way to go between next Monday night and Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, Feb. 8.

Still, it beats the alternative.

“It’s good to be part of the 14 (teams left), after so many years,” Rodgers said. “(In Green Bay in) ’22 we lost the last game to make the playoffs. (In) ’23 I was out. (In) ’24 we were terrible, so nice to be back in this position.”

A position that was a mixture of effort, a dash of excellence and maybe — maybe — a little help from above.

Cameras caught a clergy member sprinkling a little holy water on the Acrisure Stadium turf about two hours before kickoff on Sunday. The clergy made a full lap around the field to make sure all the angles were covered, including the end where Loop’s very makeable kick fluttered wide.

Crediting the win to divine intervention would diminish what an undermanned Pittsburgh offense did over the game’s last 32 minutes. (Besides, divine intervention is the “Immaculate Reception’s” corner).

Not that it matters to longtime defensive tackle Cam Heyward.

“I’m not going to ask questions,” he said. “The good Lord made a good decision tonight. I am thankful and we keep moving on.”

And not looking back.

What’s working

Giving the ball to Kenny Gainwell and Jaylen Warren and getting out of the way. The duo combined for 2,314 total yards during the regular season, including 173 against the Ravens. Gainwell was selected as the team’s MVP last week, a fitting selection for a largely anonymous offense that has found a way to be better than the sum of its parts during critical moments.

What needs help

Loop’s miss bailed out a poor performance by the Pittsburgh secondary, which allowed a pair of long touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and then a 26-yard heave in the final seconds that put the Ravens in position to win. Houston’s offense isn’t quite as dynamic as Baltimore’s, but considering how good the Texans’ defense is, it doesn’t have to be. The Steelers can ill afford the kind of breakdowns that nearly cost them a division title.

Stock up

Whenever Heyward’s name comes up for Hall of Fame consideration five years after his retirement, whoever is presenting his case should put Sunday night’s game on a loop. The 36-year-old was everywhere over the course of three-plus hours, finishing with seven tackles while being a general menace no matter where he lined up. That includes shoving younger brother Connor Heyward across the goal line for a 1-yard touchdown run in Pittsburgh’s version of the “Brotherly Shove.”

Stock down

Chris Boswell is the best kicker in franchise history. Still, the 11-year veteran has been shaky down the stretch. He missed key kicks in Detroit and Cleveland then flubbed his first extra point in nearly two years in the final minute on Sunday night.

Maybe it’s not fair to expect Boswell to be perfect, but given how small Pittsburgh’s margin for error is, he basically needs to be if the Steelers want to make their playoff appearance more than another token cameo.

Injuries

The Steelers somehow head into the postseason relatively healthy.

Key number

1991 — the previous time the Steelers lost a home game on “Monday Night Football,” a streak they will carry into Houston’s visit.

Next steps

Try to advance in the playoffs for the first time since beating Kansas City in the divisional round in 2016, which could quell the incessant “what about Mike Tomlin’s future?” discourse for a good long while.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers stands with defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (97) after an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin has no interest in shucking the weight of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ recent playoff failures onto the shoulders of his players heading into Monday night’s opening-round visit by Houston.

“I’m certainly not going to unpack my bags on the collective’s bed, if you will,” said Tomlin, who will take a six-game postseason losing streak onto the Acrisure Stadium turf to face the streaking Texans.

The Steelers (10-7) seem intent on carrying it anyway, their future Hall of Fame quarterback perhaps most of all.

Aaron Rodgers, in the late stages of his 21st and perhaps final season, is well-versed in how things work. He wasn’t immune to the noise that reached a hard-to-avoid level in late November when fans chanted for Tomlin’s firing near the end of a blowout loss to Buffalo that left the Steelers at 6-6.

“A lot of you probably in this group, either publicly or privately, were talking about Mike T. getting axed,” Rodgers said. “So it feels good to shut all those comments down. It’s a clean slate now. Anybody can make a run.”

That includes, Rodgers believes, his own erratic team. Pittsburgh responded from the messy end against the Bills by winning four of five to earn its first AFC North title in five years, the final win coming in a heart-stopper in Week 18 against Baltimore that ended up costing longtime Ravens coach John Harbaugh his job.

Tomlin survived, as he has every year for nearly two decades. But he hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season. With a misstep against the impressive Texans and the NFL’s top-ranked defense, the volume about Tomlin’s job status will no doubt be turned back up, even if the conversation is a non-starter internally for a coach whose next losing season will be his first.

“They’ve got to find something to try and get after him,” Rodgers said. “Mike T.’s probably like me, though. He doesn’t (care a whole lot) about any of those comments. (But) we all love him. We want to play for him. We want to win for him.”

Tomlin and the Steelers aren’t the only ones who will bring some baggage to the final game of wild-card weekend. Houston (12-5) comes to Pittsburgh riding a nine-game winning streak but also still searching for its road playoff victory in the franchise’s 24-year history.

The Texans are 5-3 away from NRG Stadium this season, though just one of those wins came against a team that reached the playoffs. Coach DeMeco Ryans thinks his players have “handled themselves pretty well on the road,” though the energy and the stakes will be far higher against a Steelers team that hasn’t lost a Monday night home game since 1991.

Then again, considering the hole the Texans were in after a 3-5 start, in a way their postseason started two months ago.

“Our guys know how to win football games,” Ryans said. “That doesn’t change because we’re in the playoffs. We’ve been in that mode for a while now.”

Steelers’ Metcalf returns from suspension

Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf will be back in the lineup after being suspended for Pittsburgh’s last two games of the regular season as punishment for making contact with a fan at Detroit on Dec. 21.

The Steelers flirted with giving away the AFC North in his absence, limping through a loss to Cleveland before rebounding in the second half against Baltimore on a night Rodgers finished with a season-high 294 yards passing, the final 26 coming on a toss to a wide-open Calvin Austin III for the go-ahead touchdown.

Metcalf, who took responsibility for his actions but declined to get into specifics, was so excited after Baltimore kicker Tyler Loop missed a 44-yard field goal as time expired that he hopped in his car and raced to Acrisure Stadium to join the celebration.

The two-time Pro Bowler, by far Pittsburgh’s most accomplished pass catcher, is thankful for the reprieve.

“My teammates gave me another opportunity to come back, so just big shoutout to them,” said Metcalf, whose 850 yards receiving led the team but also marked a career low.

Kickin’ it with Ka’imi

Acrisure Stadium is one of the trickier places to kick in the NFL, as Loop found out last week when his potential game-winning kick sailed wide right on the final play.

The Texans aren’t worried about the conditions affecting Ka’imi Fairbairn, who made the Pro Bowl for the second time in his career after tying an NFL record by making 44 field goals during the regular season.

“I have all the faith in the world in Ka’imi no matter where we are,” Ryans said.

Fairbairn could come up big this week for a team that has a habit of playing in tight games. Seven of Houston’s nine victories during their current winning streak have been decided by eight points or less.

“I tell our guys: ‘You take for granted when you have such a great kicker who is able to secure you points, even if things don’t go your way in the red zone,’” Ryans said. “You want to score touchdowns every single drive, but it doesn’t happen. You get in range, and you got a sure-footed kicker who can make those points.”

Texans bring fearsome duo of Anderson and Hunter

The key to Houston’s stellar defensive performance this season is clear to Ryans.

“For us and how we play defense all year, it’s really predicated on how we get after the passer,” he said.

Leading that charge against Rodgers on Monday will be defensive ends Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr., who have combined for 27 sacks.

Tomlin raved about the duo.

“Will Anderson and Hunter are simply the most dynamic edge rush tandem in the National Football League in 2025,” he said.

And he knows what they’ll have to avoid if they want to give the 42-year-old Rodgers time to operate.

“We better stay out of a bunch of one-dimensional passing circumstances, because if we’re in those circumstances we’re going to be in trouble,” he said. “That’s just the reality of it.”