2026-01-04 Ravens @ Steelers

This Sunday Night Football match is a straight-up winner-take-all: win = AFC North title + AFC No. 4 seed + playoff berth; lose = season over.
Extra Week 18 wrinkle: the No. 4 seed’s Wild Card opponent will already be determined before kickoff (most-likely: Texans; then Bills; with Chargers/Jags in the mix depending on earlier results).

From the “resting starters” angle: this one isn’t that kind of game. Around the league you do have teams managing reps (the Week 18 landscape is full of that), but Ravens/Steelers are in full must-win mode.
Injuries/availability snapshot worth tracking into inactives: Rashod Bateman ruled out (illness), and Taven Bryan out for Baltimore; Marlon Humphrey has been in the questionable conversation.
And the biggest “energy swing” headline: T.J. Watt is expected back after the collapsed-lung situation, in a game where one strip sack could decide the season.

Playoff implications

• Ravens win: clinch AFC North + No. 4 seed and host a Wild Card game.
• Steelers win (or tie): clinch AFC North + No. 4 seed (ESPN notes PIT clinches with a win or tie; BAL needs the win).
• Loser is out.
• Big-picture AFC seeding note: AFC No. 1 seed gets decided earlier Sunday (Broncos/Patriots/Jaguars scenarios).

Chart keys

Dominants and tone

Capricorn pile-up in the 5th house (Sun–Venus–Mars + Mercury) is the headline: this is “execution under pressure,” disciplined drives, and earned points — not freebies. It’s also a classic “prime-time proving ground” signature: both teams will treat every snap like a résumé line.

But that entire Capricorn engine is standing opposite Jupiter Rx in Cancer (11th):

• Big “team identity vs. the moment” tension (11th = the locker room, the collective, the crowd narrative).
• Jupiter in Cancer is strong by sign, so when the game swings, it can swing hard (momentum surges, emotional runs, sudden confidence spikes).

Element / modality counts (planets)

• Earth 5 (Capricorn/Taurus) | Water 3 (Cancer/Pisces) | Fire 1 | Air 1
• Cardinal 5 | Fixed 3 | Mutable 2

Translation: structured, physical, and directional. This reads like a trench-and-terms game: field position, time of possession, red-zone efficiency. The chart wants a plan — and punishes sloppy freelancing.

Moon: Leo in the 12th

Moon in Leo echoes the Leo Ascendant (home-field emotional charge), but sitting in the 12th makes it feel contained:

• adrenaline under a lid,
• “play it close” coaching,
• hidden adjustments and disguised looks.

Then you add Moon opposite Pluto (6th): the emotional tone turns intense and surgical — hits, fatigue, and body-on-body football. This is also a classic signature for “one mistake becomes the headline.”

Angles and “who holds the wheel”

ASC Leo 24° → Steelers as ASC (home). Ravens as DSC (away).

• Steelers (ASC ruler Sun): Sun in Capricorn 5th tightly conjunct Venus and Mars
  • That’s fight + desire + competitive style all bundled together.
  • But: Sun in Saturn’s sign (Capricorn) means the Steelers’ steering wheel is, symbolically, in the Ravens’ hands (because Ravens = Saturn/DSC ruler). That’s a huge subtlety: Pittsburgh can look “fired up,” yet still get dragged into Baltimore’s preferred kind of game.
• Ravens (DSC ruler Saturn): Saturn in Pisces 8th conjunct Neptune
  • 8th-house Saturn: survive-or-die pressure, elimination stress, “earn it in the dark.”
  • Saturn–Neptune: fog, attrition, illness/inactives, or a “not everyone is 100%” vibe — which fits the Bateman illness storyline cleanly.
  • The upside: Saturn is also making a sextile to Uranus (and Jupiter trines Saturn). That’s “adjust, adapt, steal an edge.”

Key aspects that feel game-script relevant

• Sun ☌ Venus ☌ Mars (all H5, tight): intensity + urgency + “somebody wants it.”
• Mars ☍ Jupiter (H5–H11): aggression vs. emotion — can show big swings (or overreaches: penalties, forced throws, failed 4th downs).
• Mercury □ Neptune: misreads, disguised coverages, funky officiating moments, drops, or a key “what just happened?” play.
• Moon ☍ Pluto: the “SNF stress test.” Late-game pressure magnifies everything.

What the chart suggests (practical watchlist)

1) First team to play clean wins the right to bully the tempo.
Earth/Cardinal dominance + Mercury□Neptune is basically: don’t gift short fields.

2) Expect a “contained” first half, then a volatility window.
Moon in the 12th looks like conservative scripting early; the Jupiter opposition pattern reads like a momentum pop once somebody breaks tendency (turnover, special teams, blown coverage).

3) Steelers path: ride the Sun–Mars bundle with discipline — win the physical battle without chasing highlights. Watt’s return (if he looks like himself) fits the Moon–Pluto stress pattern: one defensive eruption can flip the whole night.

4) Ravens path: let Saturn (structure) and Jupiter (belief) do the heavy lifting — keep it ugly, keep it patient, and wait for the Mercury□Neptune moment to cash in. Baltimore’s chart edge is that Saturn disposits the entire Capricorn stack — meaning the main action planets answer to the Ravens’ ruler.

Astro lean (not a lock, just the “chart smell”)

• Slight Ravens edge on symbolism (Saturn dispositing the Capricorn engine + supportive Jupiter/Saturn flow),
• but the Moon-in-Leo/ASC resonance keeps Pittsburgh very live — especially if they grab the emotional high ground early.