It was a game only a fan could truly appreciate. In a game that mimicked several victories during Pittsburgh's first championship run way back in 1974, the Steelers' defense carried them to a 19-13 win over the on Sunday in a game they needed to win in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.While they allowed over 200 rushing yards for a second straight week, the Steelers' defense forced turnovers on Sunday that led to four field goals by . Pittsburgh's defense, buoyed by the return of cornerback , held the Titans to just 1 of 4 efficiency in the red zone that included its stop on Tenne see's final po se sion. The offense, struggled but it did not commit a turnover. Pittsburgh's offense also put together the only touchdown drive of the third quarter, a drive that was capped off by first touchdown run in over three years. The win kept Pittsburgh (7-6-1) within striking distance of Buffalo (8-6), who is hanging on to the seventh and final spot in the AFC playoff race.Let's take a deeper dive at the Steelers' playoff outlook by looking at their current positioning, their remaining games and a few things that Pittsburgh will try to improve on in the coming weeks.The Calen Addison Women Jersey Steelers moved ahead of the in the AFC standings after Cleveland fell to the on Monday. Pittsburgh is now ninth in the AFC standings, with Baltimore (8-6) currently sitting as the eighth-seeded team. Four 8-6 teams -- the Bengals, Colts, Chargers and Bills -- currently make up the 4-7 seeds in the AFC standings. Along with a po sible wild card berth, the Steelers are also in position to win the AFC North, as they are just a half-game behind first-place Cincinnati and second-place Baltimore. The Steelers' Week 10 tie vs. Detroit makes it unlikely that they will have to go down to tiebreaker scenarios when it comes to playoff seeding. But in the event that it does, the Steelers would lose tiebreakers against the and . As it currently stands, the Steelers would win tiebreakers over Buffalo, Baltimore, Cleveland (7-7) and Denver (7-7).Pittsburgh is tied with Cincinnati, Houston, Miami, and Denver for the NFL's fourth-toughest remaining strength of schedule. Fortunately for the Steelers, division rivals Cleveland and Baltimore have the second- and third-toughest remaining strength of schedules, respectively. The , who are currently the No. 5 seed in the AFC, have the 22nd-toughest remaining schedule. The are tied with the Titans with the 23rd-toughest schedule, but they have a big game on the Scott Wilson Women Jersey slate this Sunday against the AFC East-leading .Week 16: @ Kansas CityWeek 17: vs.Cleveland (Monday Night Football)Week 18: @ BaltimoreAfter a 3-4 start, Kansas City has won seven straight games following last Thursday's overtime win over the Chargers. A big reason for the ' turnaround has been a red Jimmy Hayes Men Jersey -hot defense and the resurgence of , who threw six touchdowns in his first game against the Steelers in 2018. The Chiefs were hit with adversity on Monday, however, as tight end , cornerback and . Steelers fans are very familiar with their team's last two regular-season opponents. Injuries have put a damper on what was supposed to be a big season for the Browns, who were a mi sed field goal away on Monday night from being in first place in the North. Instead, the Browns fell to last place in the division with three games remaining. The pandemic took a major toll on Cleveland's roster this past week, as was one of many Browns players who were unable to play in Monday night's lo s to Las Vegas. When healthy, the Browns have one of the NFL's better rosters, as five Cleveland players were named to the 2022 Pro Bowl on Monday.A near lock to make the playoffs just three weeks ago, the are 8-6 after three straight lo ses to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Green Bay. With out with an ankle injury, backup quarterback put forth a winning performance against the , with 215 pa sing yards and two touchdowns to go with 73 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground. But it wasn't enough to stop the Packers and quarterback , who threw three touchdown pa ses against Baltimore's injury-ravaged secondary. The Ravens were also victim of another unsucce sful two-point conversion attempt that sealed Sunday's 31-30 lo s.Running game:Pittsburgh Scott Wilson Kids Jersey 's running game is in worse shape now than it was when it finished last in the league in 2020. Sunday was a new low for the Steelers' running game, as rookie managed to gain just 18 yards on 12 carries. As a team, the Steelers gained just 35 yards on 17 carries. Through 14 games, Pittsburgh's offensive line has not been able to create clean running lanes on a consistent basis. "We didn't think they'd run the ball on us," Titans coach Mike Vrabel said afterward. "All their runs were jet sweeps, razzle dazzles on the outside. Didn't think that the run game would be an i sue."How can the Steelers fix this? Their options are limited as far as this season is concerned. They could use fullback more in running situations, but if they haven't done that yet, there's no reason to think that they will now. The only thing that could change is more reps for tackle and guard/center , but it's hard to fathom Tomlin making any drastic changes this late in the season, even with the running game's ongoing i sues.Run defense: Pittsburgh's defense is now 31st in the NFL in rushing yards allowed and last in the league in average yards-per-carry allowed (4.9 yards). At times, Titans backs and fellow running back resembled Cleveland's succe sful running back combo of and . As Steelers coach Mike Tomlin noted after the game, Pittsburgh did a better job on Sunday minimizing big runs as opposed to their Week 14 lo s in Minnesota, when torched them for 205 yards and two touchdowns. Tomlin praised safety for minimizing the damage created on runs by Foreman, Hilliard and . Gap control, as noted by Tomlin, has to get better if the Steelers are going to clean up their run defense over the season's final three weeks."Teams are going to do the same things from here on out," defensive captain Cam Heyward said. "If we don't improve , we're going to be in a world of trouble."Slow starts:Sunday marked the fourth consecutive game where the Steelers failed to score a touchdown in the first half. The last time that happened in Pittsburgh was during the 1993-94 seasons. Pittsburgh's nonexistent running game is certainly part of the problem, but play-calling could also be better during the game's early stages. The Steelers haven't taken many deep shots early in games after having succe s earlier in the season. And they've largely strayed Jaromir Jagr Men Jersey way from running anything that could be considered a gadget play, especially in the game's opening moments. Look for the Steelers to try to get Roethlisberger going in the game's early stages to avoid more slow starts. If Roethlis