Back in late May, ESPN analyst and former NFL head coach Herm Edwards predicted that the Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this upcoming season in the Super Bowl. While it’s unclear whether or not Edwards will stick with that prediction come the start of the regular season, he’s still bullish on the team that’s coming off of back to back 8-8 seasons.
“[The] Pittsburgh Steelers,” exclaimed Edwards in a recent segment on ESPN when asked who he thinks will win the AFC North in 2014. “When you look at how they finished [last season], they started out 0-4 and they finished 6-2. And you look at the division record, they had the best division record of all the teams, even Cincinnati. They went 4-2 in their division. They’ve done some good things on defense, they’ve gotten a lot younger, more speed on defense.
“Big Ben [Roethlisberger] is now in an offense, that in his second season, now a little bit more spread. Bell, a big back will be a part of it, so they’ve got some pieces. They want it to end and they know they can compete in the division, because they had the best division record. So look for the Pittsburgh Steelers back in the playoffs and winning this division.”
Edwards is of course just one of several media talking heads and his prediction is just another prediction, but there’s no denying that he expects the Steelers to turn it around in 2014.
Even though Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t seem to be fond of the offseason speed narrative that has been used to describe his team ever since the draft, Edwards certainly buys into it. He also buys into this team being much younger, which they are.
We still have several weeks to go until the regular season gets underway, but should the Steelers start fast and ultimately win the AFC North division, you can credit Edwards as being one of, if not the first, major media talking heads to predict it.
