The Pittsburgh Steelers probably don’t want to view themselves as being in the same neighborhood as the Miami Dolphins, a team that isn’t a true AFC contender.
And the Dolphins certainly don’t want to be viewed in the way many people across football have portrayed them — an average team that is only good enough to beat the bottom of the league.
In both cases, though, as the clubs square off at Acrisure Stadium for “Monday Night Football,” those perceptions are reality.
At 7-6, the AFC North-leading Steelers are only a game better than the 6-7 Dolphins, who occupy third place in the AFC East and 10th place in the conference.
Meanwhile, this is a Dolphins team that was at 2-7 a month ago, and many wondered if they’d fire coach Mike McDaniel before the end of the season.
Yet they’ve managed to maintain a faint playoff pulse until mid-December because of a four-game win streak.
“The Dolphins are as high as any team in the NFL,” coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday.
That said, three of those victories have come against New Orleans, Washington, and the New York Jets. Those clubs have combined for 11 wins all season.
So are the Dolphins genuinely a better version of themselves than what we saw earlier in the year, or do they just stink less than that smelly bunch?
“They are a fast football team. Especially offensively, they built that core on speed. We will see how fast they are in the cold weather,” former Dolphin turned Steelers tight end Jonnu Smith said this week. “They’ve been collecting some wins these past couple of weeks. I’m sure they’ll come here confident. We’ve got to play our best ball.”
More sports
• Steelers 4 Downs: Dolphins work to set up star RB De’Von Achane for big plays
• Steelers sing Minkah Fitzpatrick's praises before Monday night matchup with Dolphins
• Scouting the Dolphins: Steelers opponent has one of NFL’s best defenses over past month
By the end of the season, the narrative for the Dolphins is unlikely to change all that much, unless they win this week and against Tampa Bay, Cincinnati and New England to close out the year.
They’ll simply be perceived as a barely above — or just below — average team that won’t win a playoff game for a 25th consecutive year.
Geez, and we thought eight years in a row was bad around these parts.
During the last eight seasons of that drought to match the Steelers, Miami has had three different coaches. If they don’t close out strong, maybe they’ll have a fourth to start 2026.
The difference, of course, is that the Steelers have only had Tomlin. Which, the way the Steelers would have us believe, is supposed to hurt less, I guess.
Because of, you know, stability n’at?
You could argue the Steelers’ streak feels prolonged, whereas the Dolphins’ drought feels permanent. I’m sure that’s not going to make Steelers fans feel any better right now. The only thing that will accomplish that goal is an actual playoff victory.
Last time I checked, it’s significantly harder to win a playoff game if you aren’t actually in the playoffs.
The Steelers will get a stark reminder of that if they can’t beat Miami on Monday night at home. They’ll tumble back into a first-place tie with the Baltimore Ravens at 7-7 if that happens. Second place in the AFC North is unlikely to land a playoff spot.
Granted, the Steelers currently hold the tiebreaker versus Baltimore, but the margin is slim.
The Steelers stopped the bleeding last week against the Ravens. They beat their hated division rivals in their house. They got to play the “How do you like us now?” game for a week, and take the heat off of their coach, who had been feeling it in a way he hadn’t had to deal with in his 19 years on the job. They got themselves back into sole possession of first place, a spot they occupied through the halfway point of the season.
A slip-up, a stumble, a trap — whatever you want to call it — against Miami on home turf, and they’ll give it right back.
“I knew that this team was built for the long haul, and different seasons play out in their own ways,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Thursday.
Somehow a sub-.500 team from Miami coming to Acrisure Stadium on a freezing evening, where the home team almost never loses on “Monday Night Football,” poses much more of a threat than logic would dictate.
The oddsmakers at BetRivers.com know what this game looks like. They only have the Steelers as a three-point favorite. That’s essentially saying it’d be an even game at a neutral location, and the Steelers would be underdogs if the game happened to be in Florida.
I can’t argue. Given Miami’s vaunted rush attack, the Steelers’ porous rush defense and the absence of T.J. Watt, a Steelers victory is far from a lock.
The Steelers should win. The Steelers have to win. The Steelers better win.
I think they will 26-23. Maybe even in overtime. It’ll be a reminder of who the Steelers really are, despite what the standings will say.
That’s if this column has failed to accomplish that task.