The Pittsburgh Steelers head into Sunday afternoon’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals in need of a win and some help to earn a playoff spot.
Unfortunately for Mike Tomlin’s squad, it will have to do battle without star wide receiver Antonio Brown. Pittsburgh announced prior to the game that Brown will be inactive with a knee injury.
This is an absolutely major blow for the Steelers. Brown, 30, has put up 104 receptions for 1,297 yards and a league-high 15 touchdowns on the season. Needless to say, Ben Roethlisberger and Co. will miss him big time.
The good news here is that Pittsburgh has “team MVP” JuJu Smith-Schuster active. It’s also taking on a Bengals squad that has lost six of seven heading into Week 17 and is without both Andy Dalton and A.J. Green.
Not only does Pittsburgh need to beat Cincinnati on Sunday, it needs the Browns to come out on top over Baltimore to clinch the AFC North title.