It's Christmas, not Groundhog Day. Yet, it feels like we've been here before.
The Chiefs, despite a league-best record, have felt vulnerable all season. They've battled injuries, issues along the offensive line and a fair bit of trial and error with the offensive game plan. More often than not, they've been forced to scrape by in one-score games.
On the doorstep of the postseason, however, Kansas City again looks like a dangerous, championship-caliber team.
Getting players like Marquise Brown and Isiah Pacheco healthy and into the lineup has helped. During their absences, though, the Chiefs uncovered the right roles for players like Kareem Hunt and rookie wideout Xavier Worthy.
Travis Kelce (8 catches, 84 yards, 1 TD) is still a threat, albeit not as explosive after the catch as he was early in his career. A defense that carried the team for much of the regular season is still terrific. It recorded five sacks and two takeaways against Pittsburgh.
Patrick Mahomes is still a wizard behind center, and Kansas City may have found a solution for its lack of consistency at left tackle by auditioning Joe Thuney.
The Steelers kept things close for a stretch on Wednesday, but the avalanche that is Kansas City eventually took over. The Week 17 opener largely mirrored Kansas City's season for the second straight year.
The Chiefs have found their form at exactly the right time, which is a problem for the rest of the AFC playoff field. The other problem? The road to Super Bowl LIX now runs through Kansas City.
Steelers Need Vintage Russell Wilson to Make a Deep Playoff Run
Pittsburgh is playoff-bound. However, Wednesday's loss means that they no longer control their own destiny in the AFC North. More alarming is the fact that Pittsburgh has now lost four of its last six games and simply doesn't look like the title contender it appeared to be in mid-November.
The Steelers defense -- which, to be fair, was without top corner Joey Porter Jr. -- couldn't corral Kansas City often enough. Their offense, which did see the return of top receiver George Pickens, couldn't sustain drives or deliver big plays.
The good news is that Pittsburgh has already punched its postseason ticket and there's time to turn things around. If the Steelers are going to go deep into the playoffs, however, they'll need some vintage performances of quarterback Russell Wilson.
Wilson has been the capable and experienced signal-caller that this team lacked a year ago. He also showed some flashes of being the dangerous dual-threat he was during his prime years with the Seattle Seahawks.
The 36-year-old barely topped 200 passing yards but did rush for a season-high 55 yards and a touchdown.
However, Wilson needs to play a cleaner brand of ball than he has over the last three weeks -- a stretch that has included two lost fumbles and two interceptions. His first-quarter interception in the end zone changed the course of Wednesday's game significantly.
Pittsburgh may also want to lean on Wilson as a scrambler more to augment a ground attack that came into the week ranked 31st in yards per carry.
Wilson gives Pittsburgh an edge it didn't have during last year's playoff run -- with all due respect to Mason Rudolph -- but the version we've seen late this year isn't enough to carry the Steelers to a Super Bowl.
Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have roughly two weeks to find the version of Wilson that they need.