If ESPN’s projections come true, look for the Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 season to mimic the 2022 campaign. At least in its final result. Mike Clay put together his updated annual packet of NFL predictions for the upcoming season. We’ve covered many of the stats before but for the team’s overall win total, he has the Steelers winning 9.4 games. We’ll round that down to 9.0 and assume a 9-8 record.
As he does for each game, he has a win projection. The Steelers are favorites in ten of them, a little curious given their 9.4 final number.
He has Pittsburgh as slight home underdogs for their Week One opener against the San Francisco 49ers, giving the Steelers just a 48-percent chance to win. They’re narrow favorites the following week, a primetime matchup against Cleveland, Pittsburgh getting a 51-percent chance here.
Some of their worst odds come against the AFC North. In Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Steelers have just a 34-percent chance of winning. And in what’s likely to be a critical regular-season finale against the Baltimore Ravens on the road, Pittsburgh has only a 37-percent chance to come out on top.
Their most favorable odds come against the Tennessee Titans in Week 9 (75-percent), Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7 (71-percent), and Arizona Cardinals in Week 13 (also 71-percent).
Of course, all of this is projection and prediction that won’t mean a hill of beans come time the games are actually played. Forecasts will change, injuries will occur, there will be surprises and disappointments. But we can compare and contrast the preseason viewpoint with the result and ESPN has Pittsburgh basically finishing this season in the same spot. Though the roster looks improved, the difficulty of playing in the AFC and AFC North acts as a counterweight.
For what it’s worth, the 9.4 projection is 14th-best in the league, putting Pittsburgh in the top half. But it’s last in the division behind the Cleveland Browns (9.8), Baltimore Ravens (10.6), and Cincinnati Bengals (11.0). The Kansas City Chiefs have the highest win projection at 11.7 while the Los Angeles Rams come in last at 4.9.
