Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 NFL schedule: 5 must-win games

4. Pittsburgh Steelers at Los Angeles Chargers

While you could theoretically put only home games on this list and you wouldn’t be totally wrong, sometimes you have to be able to beat a team you are competing with for a playoff spot out of another division. One of the teams the Steelers would love to have the head-to-head tiebreaker over on the road would be the Los Angeles Chargers, who project as a likely AFC Wild Card team.

Though Pittsburgh has aspirations of winning the AFC North again, the Chargers play in the same AFC West as Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Unless quarterback Justin Herbert takes a quantum leap into undeniable superstardom in year two out of Oregon, the best the Bolts can hope for is a second-place finish in the AFC West standings and the AFC’s No. 5 overall seed.

If Pittsburgh does not end up winning the AFC North again, but finishes with something along the lines of an 11-6 record, that will put the Steelers in position for the No. 5 seed. That would mean the Steelers would face either a division foe in the Wild Card round or whoever comes out of the AFC South. Kansas City and the Buffalo Bills will almost certainly be the top two seeded teams.

Having the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Chargers and the win coming on the road could help the Steelers significantly when it comes to overall playoff seeding. While this may feel like the Chargers’ year to get back to the playoffs, the Steelers have what it takes defensively to play spoiler and keep the Bolts out of the postseason field for another year. They need to win, though.