Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin expects to have a fully healthy active roster when his team plays host to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 18. That includes the return of one defensive starter that was absent for Pittsburgh's 29-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day.
Starting cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is slated to be back for Saturday night's game after injuring his knee during Pittsburgh's Week 16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Porter's presence is significant for Saturday's game as the Steelers will be facing arguably the NFL's best receiver duo in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. The duo combined to catch 20 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns in Cincinnati's Week 17 win over Denver that kept its playoff hopes alive.
Porter (who started in each of Pittsburgh's first 15 games of the season) was a full participant during Tuesday's practice, along with backup quarterback Justin Fields (abdominal), who was also inactive for Pittsburgh's Week 17 loss to Kansas City.
The Steelers have also opened up the 21-day practice windows for rookie receiver Roman Wilson (hamstring) and inside linebacker Cole Holcomb. A 2024 third-round pick, Wilson (who was a full practice participant on Tuesday) has been on injured reserve since Oct. 28. Holcomb, a 2023 free agent acquisition, started in Pittsburgh's first eight games last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury against the Tennessee Titans. Holcomb was limited during practice on Tuesday.
After being without several starers during their three-game losing streak, Tomlin is surely hoping that a healthier roster will help produce Pittsburgh's first playoff win since 2016. But before they can do that, the Steelers will have to finish the regular season against a Bengals team that needs to win and have the Broncos and Dolphins lose their respective Week 18 matchups in order to make the playoffs.
While their playoff spot has already been secured, the Steelers do have a few things to play for on Saturday night. A win and a Ravens loss to the Browns would give the Steelers the AFC North division title and a home game for the wild-card round. If Baltimore wins, a Pittsburgh victory would clinch the AFC's fifth playoff seed and a wild-card showdown with the fourth-seeded Texans in Houston.
But beyond seeding, Saturday's game is important from a momentum standpoint. The Steelers would prefer to enter the tournament with a win, which is why Tomlin is expected to play each of his healthy players against the Bengals.
"Certainly, they're a motivated group trying to play their way into this tournament," Tomlin said of Cincinnati, "but certainly we're a motivated group, to be quite honest with you. We've got to get the stench of the last few performances off of us, and there's no better way to do that than a home divisional win versus a formidable group going into the tournament. And so that's our mentality as we stand here today, we had some real good meetings to get things get kick started this morning, and we will continue. I'm excited about doing it in Acrisure [Stadium] at prime time on Saturday night."
