PITTSBURGH — In Pittsburgh, maybe in any NFL locale, it doesn't take much for opinions to shift and change, to blow in the wind like a weathervane atop a downtown skyscraper.

But when it comes to this city, the monolith is Steelers football. While it's easy to call the 2025 regular season a roller coaster ride, it's really been more like bumper cars. Fits and starts, blind-side collisions, and not a lot of smooth sailing between another spin-out.

On the bright side, this was the first year since 2017 they didn't endure a three-game losing streak or worse. On the other hand, this was only the second time since 2015 that they failed to put together a winning streak of four games or more.

It was almost a tale of three seasons, a 4-1 start and 4-1 finish sandwiched around a 2-5 slump. By and large, it's not what a playoff campaign looks like, but the Steelers were nothing if not resilient.

"We're a group that, backs against the wall, we like our chances because we're all together," said Cam Heyward, who's been around here longer than any other player. "We thrive off of people either counting us out [or] people not believing in us."

At 4-1, though, the black-and-gold Kool-Aid was flowing, Aaron Rodgers believers were chastising the Aaron Rodgers doubters, and this headline hit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports page after a 23-9 rout of the Cleveland Browns at home:

"Joe Starkey: Wait a second — was Mike Tomlin right about this destructive Steelers defense?"

Three days later, the defense was shredded by the Joe Flacco-led Bengals in Cincinnati. The following game, the Green Bay Packers threw another 30-piece wrench set into their postseason hopes. The Steelers were only 4-3 at that point, but a matchup with the 7-1 Indianapolis Colts was up next.

What was the outlook for them at that point? Here's another P-G headline:

"Gerry Dulac: There are no easy answers to stop Steelers' defensive collapse"

Apparently, the answer was as easy as going back to work, showing up to face those red-hot Colts and sending them to the first loss of what turned out to be a 1-8 slide to end the season. And then the Los Angeles Chargers game happened.

That 25-10 loss led to the release of veteran safety Juan Thornhill, a Week 1 starter, and the signing of Asante Samuel Jr. to the practice squad. Those responses came from inside the building. Outside, there was plenty of consternation about so much Kenneth Gainwell and so little Jaylen Warren.

"I'm not lacking confidence," a terse Tomlin said in the immediate aftermath. "I don't need a pat on the back. We stunk it up tonight. We'll be back."

And they were, with a rousing home win against the Bengals. But in the process, Rodgers sustained broken bones in his left wrist, which tossed another slew of questions into the Steelers' fire for the rest of the way.

And that led to the nadir of the season, quite possibly all of Tomlin's tenure. Back-to-back losses to the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills, the latter at home, put the Steelers at 6-6 and the ultimate crossroads. Former players were up in arms, with none other than James Harrison leading the charge.

"I know the Steelers, historically, don't move on from coaches," Harrison said on his podcast with Joe Haden. "But I think it's time that history be made. Because right now, the only history we're making is being the worst Pittsburgh Steelers team, statistically, almost in the history of the organization."

Never mind they were .500 at the time. You could paint Harrison's diatribe as the rantings and ravings of a madman trying to entertain the masses with his show.

But he actually had the pulse of the city and the fanbase. "Fire Tomlin" chants rang out against the Bills, a new level of vitriol even amid this nine-year stretch without a playoff win. All that did was set the stage for the Steelers' best three-game run of the year, beating the Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions in consecutive weeks.

"I see us going into the postseason really riding a high with all these wins," said Ben Roethlisberger, another franchise legend who suggested Tomlin and the Steelers might be better off parting ways, after the Lions win on his own YouTube channel. "I see no reason why we're not gonna host a playoff game in Pittsburgh at Acrisure and have no problem rolling through the first round, no matter who it is."

Cleveland rocked that notion, at least temporarily, by sending the Steelers back to earth yet again. Just when you thought that Lake Erie stench was sure to spoil the season, the Steelers bounced back like a roundball in Round 2 with the Ravens, and they've got a March Madness-esque bracket in front of them.

No Patrick Mahomes. No Joe Burrow. Not even Lamar Jackson. Those are the two quarterbacks who have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl since Tom Brady's reign ended and the one who sent the Steelers home this time a year ago.

The Houston Texans are the only NFL team without a road win in the postseason, so they have their own monkey on their back. Meanwhile, the Steelers are the kings of close games in the regular season but have faced a deficit of 20-plus points in all six games of their current playoff losing streak.

You could say the AFC is wide open. Dynasties have risen and, potentially, fallen since the Steelers last advanced in the tournament. If nothing else, how they arrived here proved how little we know about where it will go from here.

"I think that's the nature of sports media and the knee-jerk reaction of our society with social media," Rodgers said this week. "It is what it is. That's the way sports are covered now. Part of it's great for our sport,because there's a ton of eyes on what we do, and that's great for our business."

But part of it can tear a team down, if you let it. That's how Rodgers has viewed this unique journey, anyway.

"One thing I really love, and it's kind of the antithesis of where I was, is there's not really any leaks in the boat," he said. "Every year, you have difficulties and adversity, both on the field and off the field, and to go through a season like this and to be able to focus on football and not have a lot of other little crap out there has been really nice."

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