The 2024 NFL schedule was officially unveiled last night, and there are a lot of interesting—if not unfortunate—quirks for the Pittsburgh Steelers. We already knew their home and away opponents, and it was known that the Steelers’ schedule would be one of the hardest in the league, but the configuration of games over the second half of the season somehow makes it worse.
Warren Sharp released a chart on X of strength of schedule based on projected win totals over Weeks 11-18 to finish the season, and the Steelers are in an unenviable position at the bottom of the league.
No other team’s final stretch even comes close to the level of difficulty the Steelers will face. Sharp’s model shows them against eight-straight opponents with winning records over this stretch, and six of those eight teams are projected to have 10 or more wins. The Steelers will more or less be playing playoff-caliber football starting in Week 11.
Six of those games will also be against AFC North divisional opponents. It is the latest that the Steelers have ever had to wait for their first divisional matchup. On the flipside the first half of the schedule looks much easier on paper. There will be an opportunity to build momentum early in the season.
The Chicago Bears are in a similar situation with their divisional games all coming towards the end of the season, but they are the first two teams to have that setup iin NFL history.
The Steelers have made a lot of changes, specifically on the offensive side of the ball. New quarterbacks, new offensive linemen, and a completely new offensive system. It might not all come together right away at the start of the season. But in this case they very much need it to if they hope to enter the final stretch of the schedule with a decent record.
Anything can change, and a lot of things will – they always do. Whether it is a significant injury that is suffered by some of these late-season opponents, or one of the teams simply doesn’t perform up to expectations. These things happen every season. Just last year, the Steelers faced several backup quarterbacks throughout the season. There is no guarantee that will happen again, but it is easy to overreact to the schedule on paper sitting here in May.
If they do find their way into the playoffs in 2024, they will do so being a battle-tested team over the final two months of the season. They could be riding the momentum of some great wins or find themselves backing into the playoffs after a brutal final stretch. But as Mike Tomlin says, “We don’t run from challenges, we run to challenges.”
