As if you didn’t already know, the Pittsburgh Steelers have tough sledding this year. Not only in the challenge of opponent, playing the AFC West, NFC East and the gauntlet that’s the AFC North. But the layout and structure makes a difficult situation even worse. It has NFL.com’s Gennaro Filice handing Pittsburgh the “award” for the toughest schedule in football.
Despite having *only* the third-highest/worst strength of schedule, Filice still put the Steelers at the top of his list.
“The Steelers don’t even play their first divisional foe until Week 11. Yup, the schedule makers packed all six AFC North bouts into the final eight weeks. The other two games in this BEASTLY back half? A trip across the state to Philadelphia and a short-week Christmas affair with the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Chiefs.”
Pittsburgh has had more success against the AFC North than anyone else in their division, making the late-slate a potential benefit. Win those games and it’ll be difficult not to be in the playoff race. But the physical toll of playing six of their final eight games in division, including four in a row, is a doozy and could have the Steelers literally feeling the pain of the schedule.
As he notes, the only two reprieves the team gets come in the form of heading to Philadelphia in Week 15 and hosting the Kansas City Chiefs on a short week on Christmas Day. In the Super Bowl era, the Steelers are 0-10 at Philly, their last win coming during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, 1965. Pittsburgh has lost all three of Patrick Mahomes starts and done so in uncompetitive fashion. Mahomes has outscored the Steelers 120-168, throwing 14 touchdowns to just one interception over that span. Some analysts think the Steelers could lose every one of those final seven or eight games and it’s plausible Pittsburgh won’t be favorites in any of them.
But Filice doesn’t just focus on the obvious. Even the front half of the schedule has its pitfalls.
“A couple of high-profile Sunday nighters, with the Cowboys and Jets storming the Steel City during one 15-day span in October.”
While the Steelers will be at home and they generally play well in primetime slots, they’ll face top 10 quarterbacks in Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers. And that doesn’t even consider the first four weeks of the season. Three of the first four on the road with a home opener versus the Los Angeles Chargers. The only “break” comes from Weeks 6-10 when the Steelers play teams like the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants and Washington Commanders. But Pittsburgh never makes any game easy, and their schedule sure isn’t helping.
