The NFL schedule dropped on Wednesday, and while teams already knew who they would be playing, the order and times of the game can often be crucial for teams.
This is especially true for a team like the Steelers, who plan to be fighting for a playoff spot through all of the 2024 season. It’s tough to tell exactly what you want in a schedule before it comes out, as there are so many variables as to how it can turn out. However, it’s a lot easier to spot a schedule that is unfavorable, and that might just be what the Steelers have this year.
It’s what they have this year according to Sports Illustrated’s Connor Orr at least. He had them ranked number two on his least of teams that got screwed by the NFL schedule.
“I absolutely despise the way the Steelers’ schedule is laid out.” Orr said. “The AFC North is unique in that it’s akin to SEC divisional play in college football. There is a season, in theory, but the only thing that really matters is the outcome of the most difficult conference in the NFL… Pittsburgh basically has to shift gears at a time when injury attrition is at its height and battle through the meat of its schedule with one meaningful game after another. Ravens-Chiefs-Bengals to end the season, completing a stretch of six divisional games in eight weeks, feels ridiculous.”
There are quite a few problems with the Steelers’ schedule that Orr alludes to, let’s break down a few of them. One is the pure difficulty of it. The Steelers have the third hardest schedule in football, in part due to playing in the AFC North, but they also draw non-division games against the Chiefs, Cowboys, Eagles and Falcons.
The end-of-season games all being against the AFC North is brutal too. It could work out in the Steelers’ favor, as their opponents could be beaten up by that team and they could be relatively healthy. But the compounding factor here for Pittsburgh is their games in between the AFC North games. They play the AFC North six out of the last eight weeks, with the other two games being against the Chiefs on Christmas, and on the road against the Eagles. Yikes.
This schedule puts a lot of pressure on the Steelers early in the season too. If they come into the final eight games at 4-5, or even 5-4, there’s not going to be a ton of optimism that the team can still battle their way into the playoffs. You’d probably want to be at least 6-3, meaning that you could split your last eight games and still have a realistic chance at a playoff spot. And even then, back-to-back road games against Atlanta and Denver to open the season are far from guaranteed wins.
