Steelers clinch No. 7 seed in playoffs, will play at Buffalo in wild-card round

After getting help to reach the postseason earlier in the day, the Pittsburgh Steelers discovered Sunday night that they will be heading to Buffalo for a matchup against the Bills in the wild-card round.

The game will be played at 1 p.m. Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y., where the Steelers have never appeared in the postseason. All three previous playoff matchups took place in Three Rivers Stadium. The game will be televised by CBS.

The Steelers will carry a 10-7 record and three-game winning streak into the matchup, which was determined after the Bills defeated the Miami Dolphins, 21-14, on Sunday night.

“It’s catching fire when you need to,” defensive back Patrick Peterson said. “Late in the year, (we’re) playing some really, really stout defense. Our offense is putting up some points, putting together drives, and our special teams have been solid. That is what you need.”

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A day after ending the regular season with a 17-10 victory at Baltimore, the Steelers got the help they needed to secure a wild-card berth when Jacksonville lost at Tennessee, 28-20. The Steelers will enter the postseason as the AFC’s No. 7 seed. Buffalo, which ended the season on a five-game winning streak, is the No. 2 seed.

The Steelers are 0-4 in the playoffs since they defeated the Chiefs in the divisional round following the 2016 season.

The Steelers are 2-1 against the Bills in the playoffs but they haven’t met in the postseason in nearly 30 years. The Steelers hold wins over the Bills in the 1974 (32-14) and 1995 (40-21) playoffs. The Bills’ lone win (24-3) came in the 1992 postseason.

A three-game losing streak in December gave the Steelers a 7-7 record, but they regrouped and ended the season with victories against Cincinnati, Seattle and Baltimore.

“We just never drifted,” wide receiver Diontae Johnson said. “We stayed as one. We stayed locked in, stayed focused on what really matters to us — and that’s us. If we continue to do that, we can go far.”