The Pittsburgh Steelers could be in for a wild ride in 2024. Two days before the season opener, they listed QB Russell Wilson as questionable. That came a week after officially naming him the team’s starting quarterback. And that season opener just so happens to be against the team that fired the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith.
But if former Super Bowl champion and Steelers CB Bryant McFadden is right, the ride is going to be crazier — and fun — than most people expect. He joined The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan on Friday, and he predicted the Steelers would have a 10-7 record. The predictions didn’t stop there, either. He said that the Steelers are going to get their first playoff win since 2016.
And more.
“We get to the Super Bowl,” McFadden said. “I don’t know if we gonna win it… I’m a firm believer in trends, right? The last time the Boston Celtics [won it all], it was 2008, which was the same summer of the Summer Olympics in 2008. Regular-season NFL-wise, what teams made it to the Super Bowl?”
It was indeed the Steelers who took on the Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers won the championship in the dying moments on what TE Heath Miller called “the perfect pass at the perfect time.” Steelers fans everywhere remember where they were when QB Ben Roethlisberger found WR Santonio Holmes on the sideline in the end zone.
That wasn’t the only trend that McFadden highlighted, either. He brought up more Steelers-specific history, this time dealing with the site of the Super Bowl.
“The last time the Boston Celtics and the Summer Olympics happened in the same time, we won a Super Bowl,” McFadden said. “And the very first Super Bowl [the Steelers won] happened in the same place the Super Bowl is going to happen this season, which is New Orleans, Louisiana.”
The Steelers took on the Minnesota Vikings on Jan. 12, 1975, in Super Bowl IX. The Steel Curtain only allowed 17 rushing yards to the Vikings to lead the Steelers to a 16-6 victory. The 17 rushing yards and 123 total yards of offense allowed by the Steelers are both Super Bowl records.
McFadden knows his history, and that’s impressive. But does any of that matter when it comes to how the 2024 NFL season will play out? Well, Steelers fans certainly hope so.
