The flex scheduling portion of the NFL season is now underway and the Steelers have already been affected twice.
Last week's originally scheduled 1pm matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals was changed to 4:25pm so that it could be featured as CBS's game of the week.
Every week each network is allowed to protect one game from being moved to the Sunday night slot on NBC. Obviously that is to keep NBC from taking the best matchups each week and protect the other networks ratings.
The Steelers week 15 matchup at Heinz Field against the New England Patriots may have been a target for NBC, but CBS elected to protect this game. So if you're making travel arrangements for this one you won't have to worry about it being moved to Sunday night.
The #NFL has confirmed the #Steelers vs. #Patriots game on Dec. 17 (Week 15) has been protected (cannot be flexed to a different time) & will be played @heinzfield as scheduled at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS.
— Burt Lauten (@SteelersPRBurt) October 25, 2017
