The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers were on an NFL field in a game, they were getting punched in the mouth repeatedly by the rival Baltimore Ravens, allowing 299 rushing yards in a blowout loss in the AFC Wild Card matchup. That loss was the fifth-straight one-and-done trip to the playoffs under head coach Mike Tomlin, and was maybe the most embarrassing of the five.
The sting of that loss lingered, leading to the Steelers undergoing a significant transformation this offseason. A bunch of new faces and big names joined the fold this offseason under GM Omar Khan, led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, wide receiver DK Metcalf, and defensive backs Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey.
On paper, the Steelers look like a much better team under Tomlin. However, for NFL.com’s Eric Edholm, they remain in the middle of the pack in the league, at least in his most recent power rankings, landing at No. 16.
“The offense seems to be working through things as it gets Aaron Rodgers up to speed and starts figuring out all the roles: who’ll be the second receiver, how the RB rotation will shake out, and which personnel packages will be featured most,” Edholm writes of the Steelers in the power rankings. “Things have settled down since Rodgers’ first-play INT to open camp, but the anxiety remains over just how prolific this unit will end up being.
“Defensively, there’s strong hope this could be a top-10 unit, but memories of Pittsburgh’s late-season collapse on that side of the ball remain fresh.”
Things didn’t get off to the best start for the Steelers’ offense in training camp. Rodgers was picked on his first throw in a team session, and then there were some sloppy showings after that, raising some concerns. But in recent days, the Steelers’ offense has seemingly gotten on track with Rodgers leading the way.
He’s starting to develop great chemistry with DK Metcalf and Roman Wilson, while the young offensive line is starting to come together, too.
As for the defense, they’ve been pretty darn dominant all training camp, making a ton of splash plays and really disrupting practices for the offense. That’s to be expected, though, as defenses are typically ahead of offenses at this point in the season, plus the Steelers have the highest-paid defense in the NFL. They should be great in training camp practices.
But until they hit the field for an actual game, none of it really matters because of that lingering sting from the Wild Card loss.
They’ll need to get off to a fast start this season, period. Fortunately, their schedule lines up well.
“I like that the schedule seems to ramp up in difficulty as the season goes along,” Edholm adds regarding the Steelers’ schedule. “Early bye weeks are never players’ favorites, and the Steelers are off in Week 5, but they will have a chance to settle into the early part of the regular season before things truly heat up down the stretch.”
A fast start would really help the Steelers. Though the Week 5 bye week is less than ideal, it’s a chance to regroup early in the season and take some time to potentially correct some mistakes from the first four weeks. Plus, that trip to Ireland to play the Minnesota Vikings will be tough early in the season, and the travel back could be tiring. So, that bye week could be huge.
