When the Pittsburgh Steelers lost last week to the Denver Broncos in the Divisional round game, they ensured that one of two realities would come to pass: either they would welcome in a new member of an exclusive fraternity, or they would give way to a new, unique plateau in terms of NFL success as defined by reaching the championship game—namely, the Super Bowl.
Either the Broncos would join the Steelers, the Cowboys, and the Patriots as the only teams to reach the Super Bowl a record eight times, or the New England Patriots—who had already beaten the Chiefs—would become the first team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl nine times, supplanting the Steelers in this measure of postseason success.