Nothing can compare to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 quirky schedule but with the 2025 edition confirmed last night, there’s a couple notable nuggets from the team’s upcoming slate of games. Let’s dive in.
– The Steelers versus New York Jets Week 1 opener will be the first season opener between the two franchises.
– Pittsburgh has had just one Week 1 home game since 2015. That was the team’s 2023 blowout loss against the San Francisco 49ers.
– Facing the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2 means that for the third-straight season, the Steelers will play an NFC team within the first two weeks of the year. In 2023, it was the aforementioned 49ers and last year, Pittsburgh opened the season in Atlanta.
– On the other end, the Steelers facing the Lions in Week 16 is the latest Pittsburgh-Detroit matchup since 2005 when the two teams squared off in the season finale. A game Pittsburgh won as the team got hot on its Super Bowl run. The ’05 Lions finished 5-11. This matchup figures to be much tougher.
– Pittsburgh’s last two international games have come against the Minnesota Vikings. This year’s Week 4 matchup in Dublin and their previous trip across the pond, losing to the Vikings in London in 2013.
– Per the @OzzyNFL Twitter/X account, Pittsburgh has five “stand alone” games this season, meaning ones that don’t compete with any other. It doesn’t come close to the eight the Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Commanders (imagine saying that three years ago), and Dallas Cowboys have but it’s on the higher end of things.
The five games consist of the team’s four primetime matchups and its Ireland contest.
– The team’s Week 5 bye is the earliest the Steelers have had in a non-COVID year since 2013, when the team was off the same week following its London game against Minnesota. The last time Pittsburgh had an earlier bye came the year before in 2012 when the Steelers were off in Week 4.
– Pittsburgh’s divisional slate is more spread out than in 2024 but still concentrated. The Steelers go back-to-back in Weeks 6 and 7 and have divisional contests in three of their last five, including the final two weeks of the season.
– Finally, on paper, the end of the Steelers’ season is tougher than the start. From Weeks 1-9, Pittsburgh will play just two teams that made the 2024 playoffs (Vikings and Packers). From Weeks 10-18, the Steelers will play five such teams (Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo, Detroit, and Baltimore twice). They’ll also take on Cincinnati and Miami over that span.
