Who is Most Likely to Miss the NFL Postseason After Appearing in 2021?

Every year, there are a handful of teams that made the NFL Postseason from the year prior, who fail to qualify again the following campaign. Who are those teams this year?

AFC Playoff Teams: Chiefs, Titans, Bengals, Bills, Patriots, Raiders, Steelers

NFC Playoff Teams: Buccaneers, Packers, Rams, Cardinals, 49ers, Cowboys, Eagles

There are seven openings in each conference, eight total division winners, and six total wild card slots. Due to the lopsided amount of talent on the AFC side, they are inherently the least likely to return to the playoffs.

Five Teams That Will Not Qualify for the 2022 NFL Postseason After an Appearance in 2021

Although I do have two NFC playoff teams from 2021 that I expect to miss the postseason in 2022. Without further ado, let’s take a look at my top-five most likely teams to miss the playoffs after making it.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers (9-8 in 2021)

I fought with myself for awhile trying to decide if I should include the Pittsburgh Steelers in this article or not. Mike Tomlin has earned my full respect by posting a .500 record or better in every season that he’s been an NFL head coach. The defense is still stacked, and Ben Roethlisberger retiring could honestly be a good thing for the offense given how limited he was towards the end of his career.

Mitchell Trubisky has proven that he can take a team to the playoffs, but the AFC (and AFC North in general) is far from a cake walk. They’ll likely be able to use their improved offensive line to lean on Najee Harris and the defense, which is enough to make the playoffs in a normal year. I’m not even sure that 10 wins secures a playoff berth this season, though, and 10 feels like the ceiling for the Steelers in 2022. It’s not impossible they make the playoffs, but I would say as of today that it’s likely that they’ll miss.