For the second season in a row, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in the Divisional round of the playoffs, but this time, they’re healthy: Ben doesn’t have a busted shoulder, AB’s head is okay, and Bell isn’t on IR.

That could be the key to this week’s win, but our panel has their own opinions! (And here they are.)

Terry

We need Big Ben to outplay Alex Smith: not with his legs, or arm, but with his smarts.

Ben has made a few ill-advised throws in the past three games, and we can’t have those mistakes in this one.

It will come down to decision making for these two very good, but different quarterbacks. Ben needs to play like he’s been here before, and focus on the goal of getting to that 7th Lombardi. He told his teammates to “follow me”.

Well Ben, it’s time to put those words into action and we will follow you anywhere – hopefully to a win

Zac

Who gets off to the better start?

KC is not built to win from behind, and everyone and their mother knows it!

The Steelers offense dimmed down last game, but they started so well, and so fast, that Miami could never come close to coming back.

If they jump out to another double-digit lead early, even a 10 point lead, I’d be pretty surprised if KC was able to comeback.

Same for Steelers though.

If KC gets up big, it will obviously be damn near impossible to come back on the road in Arrowhead.

Brian

Turnovers.

The Chiefs are crazy good at getting turnovers, and then good at turning those takeaways into points.

Clearly the Chiefs are going to try and take Le’Veon Bell off the table, and if they can do that, we’ll need to throw the ball to open up the run.

Smart decisions with the football are going to be critical. Avoiding turnovers, especially turnovers that turn into points is crucial in this game.

Secondarily, do not ever kick the ball to that Hill kid. Our coverage has been, at best, “not very good”.

We are missing key special teams guys, and I think we would be a lot better off if we kicked everything away from that guy.

We can’t afford to give up points on special teams.

Joe

The Steelers offensive line.

The Chiefs have not been great at getting to the quarterback. Justin Houston has been hurt most of the season, and that could change things, but overall the Chiefs sport a fifth-worst sack total this season (27), with 10 of those coming from Dee Ford… and of his 10, 5.5 of those sacks were in two combined games against the Colts and Jaguars (i.e. not strong offensive lines).

On the flip-side, the Steelers nearly set a franchise record for keeping their quarterbacks on their feet this season, allowing only 21 sacks.

That translates to the Steelers not allowing sacks and the Chiefs not being able to get any.

Should that trend continue, it will be tough to stop the trio of Killer B’s. If you can’t get to Ben, you can’t force him to make mistakes.

And as I said in my bold predictions, I don’t feel the Chiefs have enough offensive firepower to keep up with the Steelers. I expect a closer score than the Dolphins game, but the same result: a Steelers victory.