It was a roller-coaster regular season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they seem to be rolling in the right direction. The Steelers have won four of their last five, beat the Baltimore Ravens in a Week 18 thriller to win the AFC North, and are set to host a playoff game for the first time since 2020.

It wasn’t always pretty, and it certainly was never easy, but the Steelers were battle-tested this year, having stared down adversity time and time again and found ways to win football games. It has them prepared for the playoffs, even if they are viewed as postseason underdogs and a team that isn’t much of a threat in general.

So, where do the Steelers stand in the power rankings across the NFL landscape entering the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs? Below is a chart of aggregate power rankings from several major outlets.

Just like that, in a blink of an eye, the 2025 regular season is over. Fortunately for the Steelers, they live to fight another day, this time in the postseason with a home playoff game on tap against the No. 5 Houston Texans on Monday Night Football. 

It was rather fitting that a roller-coaster season that saw the Steelers climb as high as the top 5 in the power rankings and drop as low as the mid-20s came down to one final kick, which went awry for Ravens rookie Tyler Loop.

That’s the margin between winning and losing in the NFL, and the Steelers were fortunate. All that matters is they won though. Now, can they take advantage of it?

With Aaron Rodgers under center, it’s a real possibility, even against a daunting Houston defense led by an elite pass rush tandem in Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. 

“The Steelers’ 42-year-old quarterback has taken a winding road since leaving Green Bay, but he’s back in the postseason,” The Athletic’s Josh Kendall writes. “Rodgers is third in playoff wins (11) and ninth in playoff passer rating (100.1) since 2009, but he’ll have a stiff challenge against the Texans defense in the Wild Card Round.”

The matchup with the Texans doesn’t look all that great on paper. Houston has an elite defense, and the Steelers have struggled against those high-end defenses this season. They did so just two weeks ago against the Cleveland Browns on the road.

But Pittsburgh gets wide receiver DK Metcalf back from suspension this week, which should be a significant boost to the offense. All eyes will be on the offensive line though, as the Steelers have invested heavily in the trenches in recent years and need the young group to hold up against Houston’s dominant defensive front.

If the offensive line can establish the run game and protect Rodgers at a decent rate, the four-time NFL MVP should be able to make some plays with his arm in the postseason, a place he’s familiar with, even if it’s been a few years.

This is why the Steelers signed him. He delivered in the regular-season finale with a remarkable fourth quarter. Now, it’s time to do it in the postseason, too, and help get the Steelers their first playoff win since 2016.