Dec 18, 2015 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – The last time the Steelers lost a game in the month of December, they did so in spectacular fashion.

Pittsburgh has won nine consecutive December games dating back to the 2013 season, matching the Carolina Panthers for the longest current streak.

Pittsburgh (8-5) will put that streak on the line again Sunday when it hosts Denver (10-3) in the NFL’s marquee game of the weekend.

The Steelers have played in marquee matchups in each of the past two weeks, beating a pair of AFC division leaders in Indianapolis and Cincinnati by a combined score of 78-30. If they can pull off the trifecta by beating the AFC West-leading Broncos, then they will position themselves nicely to reach the playoffs for the second year in a row.

“That’s just us,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “(Head coach Mike Tomlin) doesn’t just sit there and say, ‘Hey, we got to win now because it’s December football.’ We just know it’s that time of year. It’s crunch time, and you got to get hot at the right time.”

The Steelers have done that in each of the past two seasons, beating Cincinnati (twice), Atlanta and Kansas City last year to catch the Bengals and win the AFC North title.

The Steelers’ last loss in the NFL’s final month was Dec. 8, 2013, against Miami at Heinz Field. It cost the Pittsburgh a playoff spot. The Steelers blew a 28-24 lead in that game, allowing Dolphins backup running back Daniel Thomas a 55-yard run to set up the go-ahead score with 3:02 remaining.

The Steelers had an opportunity to win the game on its final play, but wide receiver Antonio Brown’s foot grazed the sideline as he scampered toward the end zone after catching a lateral from Emmanuel Sanders – who now plays for Denver – and making it a 55-yard gain instead of a game-winning touchdown with no time remaining.

“I wouldn’t say it haunts me,” said Brown, who has admitted to the play being one in his career he’d like to have back.

Pittsburgh failed to make the playoffs in 2013 when Kansas City missed a game-winning field goal try against San Diego in the final game of that season.

The Steelers don’t want to rely on another team losing to make the playoffs. They’ve taken matters into their own hands.

A win over the Broncos would move the Steelers, who are currently seventh in the AFC pecking order, up to no worse than sixth and in a playoff spot no matter what Kansas City and the New York Jets, the two teams currently in the wildcard spots, do this weekend.

“We know that if we want to be a good team, it starts in December,” Brown said. “We’ve got to heat up.”

That has been a recurring theme for Tomlin’s teams. In 2009, with the Steelers two games into a four-game losing streak that would keep the defending Super Bowl champions out of the postseason, Tomlin famously said the Steelers would “unleash hell” in December. Pittsburgh lost its first two games after that to lowly Oakland and Cleveland and Tomlin’s comment was used as a punchline. Since those two losses, however, the Steelers are 19-6 in December.

That’s why they don’t focus on playoff tiebreakers or sit around doing playoff simulators. Winning typically takes care of everything.

“Our goal is making the playoffs, so you don’t want to focus on that, but it is hard,” admitted defensive end Stephon Tuitt. “We just beat a very good Cincinnati Bengals team that was No. 1 in the AFC. Our next opponent is No. 2 in the AFC, the Denver Broncos. That’s our goal – take these one game at a time.”

Denver has issues at safety. Starting strong safety T.J. Ward (ankle) is listed as out for Sunday while starting free safety Darian Stewart (hamstring) is questionable. Stewart’s backup, Omar Bolden (hamstring) also is out. … Though quarterback Peyton Manning returned to practice this week for Denver, he is listed as out with a foot injury that has sidelined him for a month. … In addition to Brown being fined for his actions in the game against the Bengals, Steelers safety Mike Mitchell was fined more than $23,000 for a hit on Cincinnati tight end Tyler Eifert. Guard David DeCastro was fined almost $9,000 for a facemask, and William Gay and Brandon Boykin were fined nearly $9,000 each for an end-zone celebration.