There was quite a bit of excitement leading up to Wednesday night’s schedule release regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially after a busy offseason that saw the Steelers reshape their roster in impressive fashion under GM Omar Khan, marking the busiest offseason in franchise history.
But then after the schedule became official, there was a sense of dread that enveloped the Steelers, in large part due to the gauntlet late in the season from Week 11-18 that features all six AFC North matchups, a road trip to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles, and a Christmas Day home game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s a rather brutal stretch, one that could make or break the Steelers. Former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky stated that the Steelers could lose seven straight games late in the season. Former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth took it a step further on his podcast, “Stinkin’ Truth.”
“They could easily go 0-8 depending upon obviously how those teams are playing,” Schlereth said of the Steelers’ late-season stretch, according to video via the podcast’s YouTube page. “But when you just look at like quarterbacks in general, I mean, come on now. Right now in that division, Baltimore — if you’re just looking at the quarterback confidence pool — Baltimore, you’ve got confidence. Joe Burrow in Cincinnati, you’ve got confidence. Not as much in Cleveland and certainly not as much in Pittsburgh. You would have to give the confidence pool Pittsburgh bringing [up] the rear, right? You could see them going 0-8 down the stretch.”
It is well-known that Schlereth is not a fan of Russell Wilson and has certainly taken shots at him in the past. Earlier in the week, too, Schlereth said on the podcast that he thinks the Steelers have a losing season under head coach Mike Tomlin due to the two players at quarterback in Wilson and Fields.
So, it’s not a surprise to hear that Schlereth would place the Steelers last in the confidence rankings at the quarterback position in the AFC North.
Add that brutal stretch of games after the Week 9 bye week and it’s understandable why Schlereth, from his point of view, could see an 0-8 stretch.
That simply isn’t happening though.
The Steelers play well against their AFC North opponents year after year. They know how to play against them and, most importantly, win games. That’s not going to change all of a sudden this season for the worst.
“It’s hard to believe that a Mike Tomlin team would go 0-8 during any period. Like, they’re gonna play hard, they’re gonna have a good defense, they’re gonna be solidly coached and all that stuff,” Schlereth added. “But just on the quarterbacks alone, and you look at that gauntlet that is that second half of their season, man, that is, that is tough.”
It certainly is tough. There’s no two ways around it. The NFL did the Steelers no favors whatsoever, especially with the unprecedented six AFC North matchups in that stretch. The Chicago Bears are going through that this season, too, in the NFC North. But that division doesn’t exactly match up with the AFC North.
It’s a mess, and it’s going to be very difficult for the Steelers to get through that gauntlet of games, not only healthy, but winning enough games to stay afloat in the playoff picture.
Just don’t count them out though like Schlereth appears to be doing, simply because he has some sort of grudge against the quarterback.
