The Pittsburgh Steelers were dealt an unfortunate hand by the NFL scheduling gods on Wednesday evening with the official unveiling of the 2024 slate. We already knew their opponents and that they had one of the most difficult strengths of schedule for 2024, but the way the games are strung together spells a bit of trouble for Pittsburgh. Vegas oddsmakers seem to agree with that assessment, as the Steelers are favored in just six of their 17 games on the opening betting spreads by DraftKings sportsbook.
Four of the six games they are favored in come before the team’s Week 9 bye. Those are against the Denver Broncos (-3), Los Angeles Chargers (-2), Las Vegas Raiders (-1), and the New York Giants (-4). The Giants are the Steelers’ most favorable game on the schedule, according to the point spreads. After the bye week, during the most brutal portion of the schedule, they are favored to win just two games, one against the Washington Commanders (-1.5) and one against the Cleveland Browns (-1).
This also means they are favored in just one divisional matchup. That would be the complete inverse of last season when they went 5-1 against the division. All six of the divisional matchups come over the final eight weeks of the season, so this would be projecting a tough loss streak for the Steelers late in the season, similar to last year.
They are projected to lose seven of their final eight games with a three-game loss streak and a separate four-game loss streak to finish out the season. Let’s hope things do not play out anywhere close to those projections.
DraftKings has the Steelers’ over/under win total for the season set at 8.5, so it seems to be projecting the Steelers under that amount with the way it set the spreads to open the year.
Ultimately these are all just offseason talking points that have little bearing on the future reality. Opposing teams could have injuries or underperform relative to expectations to make things look very different when it comes time to play. These spreads can and will change over the course of the next several months and in the hours and minutes leading up to the games. But it doesn’t look friendly for the Steelers as we sit here in May.
