The Pittsburgh Steelers, riding a six-game winning streak at the time, entered Week 12 having put themselves in a position that would give them control over whether or not they were capable of securing one of the top two seeds in the AFC playoff picture.
Their defeat at the hands of the Denver Broncos, and the subsequent victories by the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots, and Houston Texans greatly complicated things for them, however, and they dropped from being in position for the second seed to being slotted all the way at the fourth seed as the division leader with the worst record at 7-3-1.