PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers’ starters are taking Christmas off, as the holiday falls conveniently on the NFL players’ weekly day off.

The rest of the week, including Sunday in Baltimore? Forget it, despite the fact the Steelers are AFC North champions for the first time since 2004 and are guaranteed a home playoff game Jan. 5 or 6.

That’s because regardless of what happened during Monday night’s Broncos-Chargers game, the Steelers won’t know going into Sunday’s late afternoon game what their final playoff positioning will be.

Even if the Steelers win, the Chargers’ superior conference record would assure them of being the third seed in the AFC playoffs if they win their final two games. But if the Chargers (9-5) split against the Broncos and Oakland Raiders and the Steelers win, Pittsburgh will be No. 3.

“We are going to play to win,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Monday. “I’m sure they (his players) were hopeful that the division will be riding on this game, but it will not. But it will still be a hotly fought battle.”

Tomlin doesn’t seem to care if the Steelers are No. 3 or No. 4 — after all, they were No. 6 two years ago and became the only last-seeded team to win three in a row on the road and the Super Bowl.

Still, there could be a very big difference between the seeds, and the Steelers know it.

If they’re the No. 3 seed, the Steelers would play either Cleveland (9-6) or Tennessee (9-6) in the wild-card round, then would travel to Indianapolis (13-2) a weekend later.

If they’re No. 4, the road to the Super Bowl becomes filled with even deeper potholes.

First up in the postseason would be Jacksonville (11-4), which won at Heinz Field 29-22 only last week and might be playing as well as any team not named the Patriots. Jacksonville, as a wild card team, can’t be seeded higher than No. 5.

Then, even if the Steelers beat the Jaguars, they would travel to New England (15-0) the following weekend, unless a wild-card team upsets San Diego in the first round.

Cleveland/Tennessee, then Indianapolis? Jacksonville, then New England? The choice seems obvious.

“If we have an opportunity to get the three-seed, we are going to do that,” Tomlin said. “It’s significant between three and four, saying that if you win your first game then it tells you where to go. So there is definitely at least some significance there.”

While Tomlin is promising the Steelers will go all out to win, he isn’t guaranteeing that all of their not-fully-healthy starters will play. Among those being monitored in practice will be quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (ankle) and safety Troy Polamalu (knee).

“We are in the tournament, bidding for the Lombardi (Trophy) like others, and if we have some injury issues and people are dealing with injuries then, yes, we will make sure they get healthy,” Tomlin said.