Steelers playoff schedule: Wild Card Round opponent, dates and times

At one point in time, the Pittsburgh Steelers looked like legitimate Super Bowl contenders. They were coming off an impressive win against the Baltimore Ravens to improve to 8-2 on the season. Not only did they have their usual outstanding defense, but Russell Wilson was looking like a real difference-maker.

Unfortunately, the Steelers went 2-5 the rest of the way to fall to 10-7. They still made the playoffs, but lost their stranglehold on the AFC North and instead had to settle for a Wild Card spot. The Steelers could've moved their way up to the No. 5 seed in the AFC with a Week 18 win against the Cincinnati Bengals, but instead, lost to their AFC North rivals at home to not only lose their fourth in a row, but to give themselves a much harder first-round matchup.

With that in mind, let's take a look at Pittsburgh's Wild Card Round matchup and at their upcoming playoff schedule as a whole.

Who will the Steelers play in the Wild Card Round?

Instead of being the No. 5 seed in the AFC and playing against a shaky Houston Texans team, the Steelers are the No. 6 seed, and have to face the No. 3-seeded Baltimore Ravens on the road. We don't know the full schedule yet, but we do know that the Steelers will face their arch-rivals either on Saturday, Jan. 11, Sunday, Jan. 12, or Monday, Jan. 13.

The Steelers have as difficult of a path to the Super Bowl as any team in the NFL. Not only will they almost certainly not play a single home game, they'll also have to deal with all of the AFC powerhouses if they want to make a Super Bowl appearance.

The Steelers have had some success against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens and even beat them earlier this season, but the vibes don't suggest that another win against their rivals is coming. The Steelers have gone 2-5 since their win over the Ravens, as mentioned above, including a 34-17 loss in Baltimore just a couple of weeks ago.

If the Steelers can find a way to beat the Ravens, their reward will then be to face either the Kansas City Chiefs or the Buffalo Bills (assuming they win their first game) in the Divisional Round. Yes, the Steelers have a great defense, but is it great enough to shut down the best offenses in the sport every week and make a deep run?

Steelers fans are hoping for the best, but based on their path to the Super Bowl and how they've played over the last month, it's hard to be overly optimistic.