PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers didn't make any moves at the NFL trade deadline, leaving their fans feeling more disappointed than optimistic for the back half of the season.

Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos all made trades. Or at least we thought.

Two days after the trade deadline, the Broncos announced that their deal with the Los Angeles Chargers for inside linebacker Daiyan Henley will not be finalized. It's believed to be because of a failed physical.

All of a sudden, the AFC field felt very different. Yes, the Jaguars made two massive trades, landing Jessie Bates and Jordan Davis, and the Buffalo Bills traded for one of the best safeties in the NFL in Amani Hooker, but those were the splash additions.

The Chiefs added Josh Downs, which many Steelers fans were arguing wouldn't be an "all-in" type of move for Pittsburgh, and the Cincinnati Bengals also backed out of a deal.

The AFC Feels Wide Open Again

Maybe it's the sobering of two days passing since the trade deadline, or the news that the Broncos will not be getting better at inside linebacker, but the Steelers feel much more in the mix than they did less than 48 hours ago.

Yes, they will need to get past the Bills and Jaguars, who certainly improved in big ways, but maybe they don't need to get past either.

Sometimes, the NFL playoff bracket is about getting there, then getting lucky.

The Steelers are a comparable team to the Broncos, New England Patriots, and even the Chiefs. The Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders all feel a step below Pittsburgh in terms of talent and ability to win at this point in the season.

Maybe the Steelers don't sit in the same tier as the Jaguars and Bills leaving the deadline, and unless something drastic happens in the next few weeks, they won't be in that tier before the postseason. But they certainly sit in the next tier, and at that point anything can happen.

Pittsburgh is going to get healthier. Derrick Harmon, Roman Wilson, Michael Pittman Jr. and hopefully Sebastian Joseph-Day will all return at some point before Week 18. If they can have a fully loaded roster going into the playoffs, anything can happen.

But as the dust settles from the trade deadline and the Steelers look at their competition, there's not much separation between them and the rest of the AFC, and the Broncos killing a trade with the Chargers brought that to light for everyone to see.