Russell Wilson returns to Pro Bowl form. Justin Fields plays a key complementary role, T.J. Watt finally wins his second Defensive Player of the Year, and the Pittsburgh Steelers banish the Kansas City Chiefs to the shadow realm as Pittsburgh wins its seventh Lombardi Trophy. That’s how Rich Eisen thinks the Steelers season could play out in a best-case world.
In an exercise he’s doing for all 32 teams, this is not an ironclad prediction. But Eisen is looking at the ceiling for each team if everything goes according to plan. For the Steelers, that’s not only shedding their playoff demons but adding another trophy and ring to the franchise’s collection.
“Coach of the Year finalist is Mike Tomlin,” Eisen outlined in this hypothetical. “Which means everybody in Pittsburgh is like, yeah, we have a good coach here. We’re not going to be burning up phone lines 24/7 trying to get him fired. Because guess what they do? They eliminate the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. They’re the ones who personally end the possible three-peat, and they win the Super Bowl.”
Much to the chagrin of many Steelers’ fans, Rich Eisen has been a staunch supporter of Tomlin even as Pittsburgh bottomed out to a three-game losing streak last season. But the team rallied behind Tomlin to win their final three games and make the playoffs. Their season ended how it’s ended too many times before, one-and-done in the playoffs, but a new quarterback room coupled with a healthy defense could change the season outcome.
Pittsburgh hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016, hasn’t been to the Super Bowl since 2010, and hasn’t won it since 2008.
Individually, Steelers’ players are looking to restart streaks. Wilson hasn’t made a Pro Bowl since 2021, and T.J. Watt missed out on Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, controversially losing to the analytic-friendly Myles Garrett. Watt would also love a playoff win, much less Super Bowl LIX, still without a postseason victory in his seven-year career.
In a competitive AFC North where all four teams finished above .500 last season, Eisen’s ceiling for the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and Cincinnati Bengals are the same. Super Bowl victory. It is realistic for the Ravens, plausible for the Bengals, and apocalypse-inducing for the Browns.
No team gets everything right. The odds of the stars aligning that perfectly for Pittsburgh are remote. Winning a championship is always the team’s goal, but advancing past Wild Card weekend will feel like a success. A reminder: Rich Eisen is having some off-season fun with this exercise. But no one would be mad if his June boredom turned into a crystal ball.
