The Pittsburgh Steelers weathered the storm to reach the NFL playoffs – and not just the terrible weather at their regular-season finale in Baltimore on Sunday.

With only one victory in their previous five games, the Steelers reversed course and won their final three contests to earn a wild-card spot in the AFC postseason field.

“I think that we’ve been winning games, playing at a high level, stacking good performances,” said Pittsburgh safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who didn’t play in any of the three victories.

Neither did the Steelers’ other starting safety, Damontae Kazee. Fitzpatrick had a knee injury, and Kazee served an NFL suspension for an illegal hit.

Both will be back for Monday’s playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.

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While Fitzpatrick and Kazee were out, cornerback Patrick Peterson moved to safety, and Eric Rowe came off the practice squad to join him at the back of the secondary. Former Alabama standout Levi Wallace returned to the starting lineup at cornerback after being replaced by second-round rookie Joey Porter Jr. in the seventh game of the season.

“We’re thankful for that,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said of the performance of the Steelers’ makeshift secondary during the winning streak. “But we’re also thankful for the return of guys like Minkah and like Kazee. And so if it creates a logjam in terms of talent or people available to us, then that is a good problem to have. It’s a better problem to have than some of the issues that we’ve had in terms of trying to figure out who and how to play. And so, we’ll sort through some of those things as we’re game-planning.”

But Pittsburgh won’t have outside linebacker T.J. Watt against Buffalo. The NFL’s sack leader sustained a knee injury in Sunday’s 17-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

“Obviously, we’re upset T.J.’s not out there with us,” Fitzpatrick said. “But we still got a job to do, and having most of our pieces back is big for us. We get to do more, get to be more fluid, have chemistry, so I think we’re in a good place.”

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Buffalo ended the regular season with an even longer winning streak than Pittsburgh. The Bills won their final five games to sweep to the top of the AFC East.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen led the NFL in touchdown responsibility in 2023 with 44 – 29 touchdown passes and 15 touchdown runs.

“Josh Allen is Josh Allen for a reason,” Fitzpatrick said. “He has a cannon for an arm. He can make a lot of plays with his feet. Every time we play him, it’s always a challenge. He’s a big guy. He can move. He has good feet. He’s a competitor, so he’s always going to be making the extra effort. He’s not like most quarterbacks that will see you coming and slide. He’ll lower his shoulder, try to make you miss or pump fake you, something like that. He’s a great quarterback and represents a lot of challenges.”

The weather also could be challenging when the Steelers and Bills square off at 3:30 p.m. CST Monday at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. It might have been even more challenging, but the game was postponed on Saturday from its originally kickoff time of noon Sunday because of the public-safety concerns presented by the expected snow, cold and wind.

“It don’t matter,” Fitzpatrick said. “We got a job to do either way, whether it’s rainbows and sunshine or a blizzard.”

A two-time consensus All-American at Alabama, Fitzpatrick is a Pro Bowler in 2023 for the fourth time in his career.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.