You’ve heard our Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 predictions. Overall, we swing towards optimism on the season. Does the national media feel the same way? I’ve compiled recent season predictions from 22 analysts who offered NFL predictions for the Steelers and the rest of the league. There are some who think the team crashes and burns, continues to be stagnant, or rises above.
Below is a collection of those predictions.
No Playoffs
Colin Cowherd/Fox Sports: 8 wins. Cowherd has railed against the Steelers for years, and that isn’t stopping now.
Adam Rank/NFL.com: 8-9. At least it beats his previous prediction of 6-11.
Abby Mueller/Yahoo Sports: 8-9
Ross Tucker: 9-8. Tucker doesn’t explicitly mention playoff seeding but notes it’ll be hard for Pittsburgh to stack up, implying they’ll miss the postseason. So I’ll put him in this category.
Connor Orr/Sports Illustrated: 9-8. Including an 0-3 start to the season.
Pete Prisco/CBS Sports: Prisco doesn’t make a record prediction, but doesn’t have Pittsburgh in the top seven of his playoff bracket.
Kurt Warner/NFL Network: Despite faith in Aaron Rodgers, Warner says the Steelers will miss the playoffs.
Mike Florio/Pro Football Talk: 9-8. Florio has the New England Patriots capturing the seventh seed, and during a Friday appearance on 93.7 The Fan, he made his 9-8 record prediction.
Albert Breer/Sports Illustrated: No record prediction, but the Steelers don’t appear in his playoff bracket.
Ty Dunne/Go Long: No record prediction, but like Breer, Pittsburgh is not listed among playoff teams.
Jimmy Kempksi: No record prediction, but he leaves the Steelers out of the AFC Playoff picture.
Playoffs, No Postseason Win
Bill Barnwell/ESPN: Barnwell predicts the Steelers as a Wild Card team, though he doesn’t assign a record or project if Pittsburgh wins a playoff contest.
Rich Eisen/NFL Network: 10-7. Eisen doesn’t outright say Pittsburgh is one-and-done, but doesn’t note the team will win a playoff game, either. He simply says they will make the dance.
Myles Simmons/Pro Football Talk: No record prediction, but has Steelers as the No. 6 seed, losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round.
Bruce Murray & Rich Gannon/Sirius: Neither offers records or playoff brackets, but both have Pittsburgh as a Wild Card seed.
John Pluym/Sports Illustrated: No record prediction, but has the Steelers as the No. 7 seed, losing to the No. 2 Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card round.
Michael David Smith/Pro Football Talk: No record prediction, but has Steelers as the No. 7 seed, losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round.
Charean Williams/Pro Football Talk: An interesting one here. Williams is the only national analyst to pick Pittsburgh to win the AFC North, projecting them as the No. 3 seed. And yet, she has them losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round.
Playoff Win
Nate Davis/USA Today: 11-6. Projects Pittsburgh as the No. 6 seed and to upset the Denver Broncos in the Wild Card round. The Steelers lose to the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round.
Adam Schein: 11-6. Schein didn’t have an official playoff bracket but is bullish on the Steelers after being pessimistic in years past, predicting a playoff win.
Michael Rosenberg/Sports Illustrated: No record prediction, but has the Steelers as a No. 7 and beating No. 2 seed Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card round before losing to No. 1-ranked Buffalo Bills in the Divisional.
Of the 22 picks, 12 of them (54.5 percent) have the Steelers missing the playoffs. The rest have Pittsburgh advancing to the postseason. Of that group, only three (13.6 percent) explicitly predict the Steelers to get over the hump and break an eight-year postseason drought. Davis and Rosenberg, the two who made playoff brackets, have Pittsburgh falling in the Divisional Round.
Contrast that to our Steelers Depot staff predictions. The entire 12-man crew has Pittsburgh finishing with at least 10 wins, with all 11 of us picking the Steelers to make the playoffs. And nine of us, 75 percent, predict a playoff win.
