The Pittsburgh Steelers have a tough slate to end their season, with six of their final eight games coming against divisional opponents and their two non-divisional games against the Kansas City Chiefs and on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. Sports Illustrated’s Connor Orr took a look at the 13 most interesting games of the 2024 season, and he had Pittsburgh’s Christmas Day matchup against the Chiefs and Pittsburgh’s Week 13 game on the road against the Bengals as two of the games he listed.
Orr believes that Pittsburgh’s game against the Bengals will be the test of whether Russell Wilson can handle the rigor and physicality of the AFC North.
“The Steelers don’t have a division game until Week 11, when they play four in a row—which, by the way, is completely absurd. So, by the time this game against Cincinnati is over, the third of four, we will have had a sample size of Wilson against all three of his divisional opponents in a very truncated window. To me, it’s unfair to peg his first divisional game as the one to watch because any quarterback can look like Buddy the Elf at the Jack in the Box station, but by the time he spends an offseason with a Steelers defense and faces Myles Garrett, Justin Madubuike and Lou Anarumo’s unit at least one time each, we’ll see if he becomes calloused enough to handle the division.”
Wilson’s snap-to-throw time has been among the worst in football, and in the AFC North, even with a revamped Steelers offensive line, he’s going to have to do a better job getting rid of the ball. It will be interesting to see how he looks in his third AFC North game in a row, especially one on the road with a longer week of rest following a Week 12 Thursday Night Football game against the Browns. The first three games of the four-game AFC North stretch are against the Ravens, Browns, and then Bengals, and obviously, it’s one where the Steelers can’t really afford to go 0-3. If Wilson struggles with holding onto the football too long, or the line struggles to protect him, the season could take a nosedive quickly in the second half.
Outside of the Steelers-Chiefs game being on Christmas Day and also being the first-ever game that’s exclusive to Netflix, Orr is intrigued by it for the matchup of kick returners, with Pittsburgh’s Cordarrelle Patterson and Kansas City’s Xavier Worthy looking to take advantage of the new kickoff rules.
“Just as you thought, here’s our chance to talk about … special teams. I circled the Chiefs and Steelers even before the league dropped this game onto Christmas Day because both of these teams made very specific position upgrades this offseason to address the kickoff rule changes. Chiefs rookie receiver Xavier Worthy is an electric punt returner who could shine under this format, and the Steelers added Cordarrelle Patterson and Justin Fields, both of whom could factor into the return game.”
While I think it’s unlikely that Fields factors into the return game, Patterson remains one of the best return men in league history, one of the main reasons why Pittsburgh signed him this offseason. While he could have a role in Arthur Smith’s offense, Patterson’s primary function will be as a returner, and it’ll be fun to see how he looks for the Steelers this season.
From the Kansas City side, Worthy is a rookie who set the Combine record for the fastest 40-yard dash, and he could quickly show himself to be a talented returner. As if the Steelers don’t have enough to deal with trying to stop Patrick Mahomes, dealing with the return game and special teams may be an added factor for the Steelers on Christmas Day in a crucial Week 17 matchup.
The Steelers’ schedule in the second half of the season doesn’t do them any favors, but there’s no doubt that the games will be entertaining and rife with storylines as Pittsburgh battles to make the playoffs for a second straight season. Both the Week 13 game against Cincinnati and the Week 17 game against Kansas City will be intriguing matchups, and hopefully, the Steelers can come out on top of at least one of them.
