The Steelers are hosting the AFC Championship Game come Sunday night.

Who would have thought that a few months ago?

It seemed like only yesterday when Ben Roethlisberger’s episode in Georgia occurred that could have landed him prison time, let alone the four-game suspension he got from Roger Goodell.

The last time the Steelers reached the postseason, Santonio Holmes was one of the heroes. This time, he’ll be catching passes for the other team. The Rooneys tired of Holmes’ off-field act and shipped him to the Jets for a fifth-round draft choice.

The Steelers went 3-1 without Roethlisberger. Then they had to do without Pro Bowl caliber defensive end Aaron Smith for the season due to injury.

One-by-one, the team watched its offensive linemen head to the sidelines with various ailments. Already operating with a makeshift offensive front, the team lost tackles Flozell Adams and Jonathan Scott to illness and injury for much of Saturday’s AFC playoff win over Baltimore.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu missed a couple of games down the stretch with an achilles problem and played hurt in other games.

While the Steelers put together a 7-1 road record this season — losing only at defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans — they held on for dear life in a few of them.

They survived in Miami, winning by a point by a controversial ruling on a Roethlisberger fumble — or non-fumble — at the goal line.

They survived a near-meltdown in Cincinnati, winning 27-21 by stopping a potential Bengals’ game-winning drive in the red zone late.

They survived in Buffalo, winning in overtime after the Bills dropped what would have been a game-winning touchdown pass.

That’s just it. The 2010 Steelers are survivors.

Trailing by two touchdowns at halftime to a team like Baltimore spelled certain doom, especially after turnovers virtually handed the Ravens 14 points.

But the Steeler defense found a way to take those turnovers back, the offense got even, Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown combined on a miraculous 58-yard pass play on third-and-19 and this team is playing on.

Think these Steelers are as good as they were two years ago? They’re not.

But the NFL playoffs are all about survival. And they’re pretty good at that.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.