The Steelers went into Sunday night needing only one simple thing not to happen: The Chargers-Raiders game couldn’t end in a tie. The Sunday Night Football game had all of Pittsburgh on the edge of their seats, or so you would think.
Mike Tomlin said he was asleep when Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson made the game-winning field goal on the final play of overtime to avoid a tie that would have eliminated the Steelers.
“I dozed off,” Tomlin said Tuesday, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “I knew I had a workday waiting on me, or I assumed that I had a workday waiting on me. I think at one point, [the Raiders] were up by 15, and that number made you somewhat comfortable.
“I’m probably better off not having watched it.”
The Steelers had only a 9 percent chance to make the postseason before Sunday started, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. But here they are.
Everything fell Pittsburgh’s way Sunday.
“I can’t say enough about the group,” Tomlin said. “Their buy-in, their fight, their selflessness. You’re not in this tournament unless you’re all of those things and then some.
“We don’t think we’re unique compared to the other 13 teams, but we are appreciative of what it is that we’ve had to do to be a part of this field.”
