Four NFL teams that could surprisingly make playoffs

Yardbarker NFL writers Mike Tunison and Chris Mueller address some of the hottest issues in the league. This week's topic: Which teams once counted out have shots at making the playoffs?

Mueller: An annual rite of following the NFL is identifying teams written off too soon who then rise from the ashes and make the playoffs. Last season it was Andrew Luck and the Colts, who started 1-5 and won nine of their last 10 to sneak in. The Ravens’ turnaround was even more startling. Baltimore was 4-5 after a loss to the Steelers, and had just lost Joe Flacco as it entered its bye week. No one was particularly excited to see rookie Lamar Jackson take over; he was thought of as possibly the rawest and least ready of any first-round quarterback. No matter. Baltimore reinvented its entire offense on the fly, won six of its last seven games, and shocked everyone by winning the AFC North when the Steelers collapsed. 

So which ignored or dismissed team has the best chance of making it to the playoffs this season? Are you sitting down? I think it’s the Oakland Raiders. I’m a believer.

One reason is because of their residence in the abhorrent AFC, a conference that might have two very good teams, three tops. Another reason is quarterback Derek Carr, whose numbers aren’t eye-popping (2,202 yards passing, 14 TDs), but who has been good just about all season. Rookie running back Josh Jacobs (811 yards rushing) is the driving force behind an offense that is smack dab in the middle of the league in points per game (23.1). It manages to do just enough to win, and an underwhelming defense does just enough to not lose. 

What Oakland really might have going for it is a little good fortune. The football gods are smiling on the Raiders. (Why they’d smile on a team bolting town for Vegas, I don’t know. I don’t talk to the football gods.) 

Gruden and the franchise got hoodwinked by the Steelers in the Antonio Brown trade, humiliated by the receiver, and left for dead on the side of the road in the AFC West. They weren’t supposed to be good even with Brown, so it stood to reason that they’d be a complete dumpster fire without him. They’ve persevered, though, twice answering two-game losing streaks with two-game winning streaks. Now they get the Bengals and Jets back to back, and should be 7-4 heading into a rematch with the Chiefs. Even if they lose that, going 2-2 in their last four (TEN, JAX, at LAC, at DEN) probably gets them in. I think that Chucky’s bunch of misfits will actually get it done. 

Tunison: As a Steelers fan who wanted them to tank the minute Ben Roethlisberger's season was over, I have of mixed feelings about just how well the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade has worked out for them. Granted, I still think there's room to question unloading a first-round pick for a safety when the team's ceiling is maybe nine or 10 wins, but there's little question at this point that Fitzpatrick is worth that in a vacuum.

The problem is, say they get to 9-7, and Mike Tomlin still gets to say he's never had a losing season, what sort of position does that leave them in beyond 2019? Roethlisberger will return in 2020, but by then he's going to be 38 years old. We all know Tom Brady seems like he may play forever, but he's experienced significantly less physical wear and tear throughout his career.

It's also worth pointing out that Ben didn't exactly look sharp in the game and a half he did play in 2019. Mason Rudolph has been OK, but watching him throw wobbling, deep passes -- especially in the awful, fight-marred loss to the Browns on Thursday -- I can't help but wonder how much luck he's had on his side so far. But if the Steelers (5-5) are trying to return to an era where the rest of the roster is stacked and the quarterback is pretty good at best, I can't say I'm not used to that from the pre-Roethlisberger days.

As far as 2019 is concerned, it helps that Pittsburgh plays in a division that has massively underperformed aside from Baltimore. Pittsburgh's next two are against the winless Bengals and Browns again. Occasionally losing games they should comfortably win has been one of the unfortunate hallmarks of the Tomlin era, so while they can't get too comfortable, there are encouraging signs compared to the early part of the season. 

The Steelers are always synonymous with defense, whether they deserve it or not, and the Fitzpatrick trade means they now have two legitimate playmakers in the secondary (along with Joe Haden). Even in the peak years of the Dick LeBeau era, that was something they could never say. Linebacker Devin Bush is a top defensive rookie of the year candidate, and linebacker T.J. Watt continues to improve into a pass-rushing force worthy of comparisons to his older brother in his healthier days. It's impossible to deny the Fitzpatrick trade helped them significantly for 2019, and it's good they're making the most of it. A month ago, they were in the conversation for the worst team in the league; now they still could sneak into the postseason.