{"id":665853,"date":"2026-01-10T10:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T10:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/665853\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T10:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T10:21:10","slug":"bold-predictions-for-wild-card-round-of-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/665853\/","title":{"rendered":"Bold predictions for Wild Card Round of playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 10, 2026, 5:06 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

In pursuit of their first postseason win since the 2016 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> face off against the Houston Texans<\/a> in an exciting wild card matchup \u2014 with more than a few key predictions to anticipate.<\/p>\n

From Pittsburgh\u2019s run game struggles to a returning wide receiver having a strong performance, here is a look at our bold predictions here at Steelers<\/a> Wire.<\/p>\n

Steelers held under 100-yards rushing\"Aug<\/p>\n

Facing off against a Texans defense that\u2019s top-five against the run, expect the inconsistent Steelers rushing attack to fall short of the century mark this Monday.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers outduels CJ Stroud\"Dec<\/p>\n

In the battle between an accomplished veteran and a young star in the making, expect Rodgers to come out on top. Although he\u2019ll face off against a tough Houston defense, Stroud hasn\u2019t exactly put up great numbers in Year 3, with the Steelers likely holding an edge in the passing game.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a>DK Metcalf goes over 100 yards receiving\"BALTIMORE,<\/p>\n

Facing off against Derek Stingley Jr., a First-Team All-Pro and two-time Pro Bowler, will be one of Metcalf\u2019s toughest challenges as a Steeler, but he\u2019ll look to bounce back in a major way following his two-game suspension. Expect the athletic wideout to go over 100 yards receiving as the Steelers look to earn their first playoff win in almost nine years.<\/p>\n

For up-to-date\u00a0Steelers\u00a0coverage, including Pittsburgh\u2019s wild-card playoff matchup against the\u00a0Houston Texans<\/a>, follow us on X\u00a0@TheSteelersWire<\/a>\u00a0and give our\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0a like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 10, 2026, 5:06 a.m. ET In pursuit of their first postseason win since the 2016 season, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[95878,7,6,520,57,2360,96718,96719,426,96675,95882,96723,96722,95893,95953,95888,95895,95906,96721,96720,96008,96071,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-665853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-sstssportsnflsteelers","15":"tag-sstsnsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-tagaaron-rodgers","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagderek-stingley-jr","20":"tag-tagdk-metcalf","21":"tag-tagfacebook","22":"tag-taghouston-texans","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-hub","25":"tag-tagoverall-positive","26":"tag-tagpittsburgh","27":"tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","28":"tag-tagsmg-listicle","29":"tag-tagsmg-timely","30":"tag-tagsports-news","31":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115870308164124355","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}