This Sunday, my wife's circle of favorite NFL teams will increase by four.

One of the biggest Pittsburgh Steelers fans around — her vocabulary degenerates to guttural grunts, groans and shrill screeches when the Steelers play — Dahn will have one eye on Hines Ward and the other on the scores from around the league.

She will root for the Raiders, the Chiefs, the Bengals and, gasp, the Patriots.

The Steelers need to beat Miami and have some other games fall in their favor — along with rare planetary alignments and sacrificed fowl — to slip into the NFL playoffs.

The Indianapolis Colts certainly didn't help the Steelers quest last Sunday, benching their stars in the second half, allowing the New York/New Jersey Jets to roll over their junior varsity team to a 29-15 victory.

Had the Jets lost, the path would have been much more simple for the Black and Gold.

As it is now, JaMarcus Russell has a better chance of being a Pro Bowl quarterback than Pittsburgh has of reaching the postseason.

Who is to blame?

The Steelers, of course.

Losses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Browns — teams with a combined 11-34 record — may have ruined a chance at a repeat.

Instead, Pittsburgh's fate is in the hands of two of their most bitter rivals.

A victory against Miami is no gimme. Lose that one and everything else is moot.

Win and one of three scenarios must happen:

• Losses or ties by the Texans against the Patriots and the Jets against the Bengals.

• Losses or ties by the Texans against the Patriots and the Ravens against the Raiders.

• Losses or ties by the Jets against the Bengals, the Ravens against the Raiders and Broncos against the Chiefs.

The pivotal game is the Texans-Patriots matchup. Should the Texans lose to New England, the Steelers will avoid needing a very unlikely trifecta — wins by the Bengals, Raiders and Chiefs.

Instead, the Steelers can hunker down in front of the TV and root for the Bengals to dispatch the Jets in the Sunday night game.

But in that scenario, the Bengals already will know they are the fourth seed in the AFC playoffs.

What is there to play for? Will Marvin Lewis pull a Jim Caldwell and sit his starters, knowing nothing good could come from playing them?

That would give the Jets a second straight game against an opponent waving a white flag.

Steelers fans would certainly cry foul — I can hear the colorful phrases flying from Dahn's lips — but such is life.

If you really want someone to blame, point an angry finger at NBC for tapping the Bengals-Jets clash as their Sunday nighter.

In essence, they have affected the AFC playoff race by moving that game. Had the game been at the same time as the Pats-Texans, the Bengals would be compelled to play their starters.

No matter what happens, the bottom line is the Steelers caused this mess.

They — and their fans — have to live with it.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.