With an early bye in Week 5, the Steelers have a long stretch of games in 2025, which could be a problem. They are scheduled to play 13 consecutive games to end the regular season, rather a gauntlet and an endurance test. And the last time the NFL scheduled them with such an early bye week, things spun out of control.
There is a caveat to consider, as the Steelers had an early bye in 2020 due to a COVID-19 kerfuffle. They had a later bye, but with a game being delayed, the NFL forced them to take an earlier bye. That season, they started 11-0, including 8-0 after the bye.
However, they finished the season on a 1-4 slide, crawling into the postseason. The Steelers lost to the Browns in the regular-season finale and then lost a week later to them in the playoffs. By that point, they no longer looked like a playoff-caliber team despite their 12 wins.
The last time the Steelers had an early bye week by design was back in 2012. That year, the NFL stuck them with a Week 4 bye, which also gave them a 13-game stretch to end the season. That season, they started off well enough, getting off to a 6-3 start. But they imploded in the second half, going on a 2-5 run and missing the playoffs.
So if history is any indication, the Steelers having a very early bye week is bad news. In both recent instances of having a 13-game stretch to end the season, they fell apart. And considering the Steelers are coming off a season in which they collapsed to end the year, it’s hard to feel much confidence in their ability to handle it. No matter how much they believe, now, in mid-May, they will be prepared for it.
The main factor in the Steelers receiving such an early bye is that they have an international game. The week before, they host the Vikings in Dublin, Ireland, before getting the week off. Steelers president Art Rooney II said they didn’t ask the NFL for the bye week then. However, he stopped short of complaining about the timing of it.
Now, the Steelers had a Week 5 bye back in 2013 after a London game. That year, they went 8-4 in their final 12 games, including 6-2 in the second half of the season. Of course, they started that season 0-4 and finished 8-8.
But the point is, you can only draw so much from where the bye week falls. All you really glean from it is how many games you play before and how many after. It tells you nothing about how it will affect the Steelers in-season, in relation to injuries or momentum. And just because they lost a bunch of games after an early bye over a decade ago doesn’t mean they will this year.
I mean, they probably will, but that’s not because of the bye.
