The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a devastating loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night, putting their playoff hopes in serious jeopardy. One of the biggest reasons for the loss was a fake punt attempt that did not work.

The thing is, pretty much everyone knew it failed except for the Steelers players themselves:

That's … embarrassing.

Had Pittsburgh converted the fourth down play, we might be having an entirely different discussion today, as the Steelers would have had a whole new set of downs near Saints territory with four minutes remaining.

But, of course, that is not what happened.

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Instead, New Orleans took over in Pittsburgh territory and ended up punching in a touchdown, taking a whole lot of time off the clock in the process.

In the end, the Saints came away with a 31-28 win to lock up a first-round bye in the NFC. The Steelers dropped to 8-6-1, falling behind the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North standings and multiple clubs in the hunt for a wild-cart spot.

Now, in order for Pittsburgh to make the playoffs, it will have to beat the Cincinnati Bengals and the Ravens would have to lose to the Cleveland Browns. Or, it could beat the Bengals and hope that the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans tie, which doesn't seem very plausible.

The Browns are no joke this season, so it is possible that they could upset Baltimore on the road. But with the way the Ravens are playing right now, it's hard to imagine them losing that game on their home field.