Making the playoffs in the NFL is extremely tough, even with 14 total teams that get in on an annual basis. Having that 7th seed in each conference has given everyone an additional spot to fight for, but playoff spots are incredibly difficult to hold onto year after year. Turnover is the name of the game in the NFL with at least four teams every year making the playoffs after missing the year prior.
That means at least four teams that earned their way to the playoffs last year are likely to miss out this coming season, but who? Which 2023 playoff teams are the most likely to get left out in 2024?
4 NFL teams that will miss the playoffs in 2024
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers were one of the seven representatives in the AFC last season, but they look like a team that is destined to miss out in the 2024 campaign.
Why is that?
On the one hand, there is the unstoppable force that is Mike Tomlin and his streak of non-losing records. This has been one of my favorite things to bring up all offseason. Mike Tomlin's teams winning nine games or more seems inevitable every single year.
On the other hand, you have the arrival of a declining Russell Wilson, whose 2022 season with the Denver Broncos may have been a bit of an outlier due to coaching and injuries. Even if that's the case, Wilson has only been effective the last two years out of structure, and while he made clutch plays for the Broncos, what we saw from him last year might be the best of what he's got left.
It's hard not to view Wilson as an upgrade over Kenny Pickett and the situation the Steelers previously had at quarterback, but the Steelers' record from last season didn't pass the eye test in real-time. They were extremely lucky for much of the year, and I don't see that happening again in 2024.