Steelers Are Likely Mid-Tier Team In 2024: "Good Enough To Be At That Second Or Third Spot In The [AFC] North"

The Pittsburgh Steelers are always an organization that has extremely high expectations coming into every season. Those same expectations come from both inside the organization, as well as from the fans. With the team reloading this year, both with their roster, and their coaching staff, those expectations are firmly in place yet again to hoist another Lombardi Trophy.

Despite all that, the Steelers are constantly a team that seems to be doubted heading into the season and is usually picked as a team that will miss the playoffs and/or end up with a losing record. However, as we all are probably tired of hearing, Head Coach Mike Tomlin has yet to have a losing season at the helm, and while the playoff success has been absent in recent years, that has usually resulted in the team exceeding the expectations from people outside of Steeler Nation. 

This year is no different, as even though the team has seemed to improve across many positions of need on their roster, and improved their offensive coaching staff, the Black and Gold are still projected to have a losing record by the oddsmakers. 

Even many members of the media and former players are considering the Steelers as a team that shouldn't be getting much hype this season as a true contender. On the 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe podcast, former NFL linebacker, LaVar Arrington talked about Pittsburgh and said he thinks they will be a longshot to win the division. 

"I think that the Steelers are a mid-tier team, I don't think that they're a divisional winner this year, I think they're mid-tier. So they're second or third."

A mid-tier team might not be as inaccurate a description as many Steelers fans may claim it is if recent history tells us anything about the future success from the organization. Recently, they've been finishing above .500, but either limping into the playoffs and getting knocked out in the first round, or missing the playoffs altogether. So looking at the last several seasons, the description isn't that far off. 

However, this Steelers team is not the same as they had in previous seasons. This team has loaded up at all their weaknesses, finally moved on from a pitiful offensive coordinator, and added a Super Bowl-winning quarterback to their roster all in one offseason. Doing that following a year in which they managed to make the playoffs off of a tremendous performance down the stretch from their third string quarterback in Mason Rudolph? This team isn't the same "mid-tier" team they might've been in the past. 

With the thought that the Steelers are just a mid-tier team this season, Arrington doubled down on saying he doesn't think they're good enough to win the division. 

"I feel like Pittsburgh falls into that second space, and then Cincinnati and Cleveland fight it out for that third. I don't say that as it's not a successful season for Cleveland or Cincinnati, I'm just saying if history serves correctly outside of recently, you're looking at a Baltimore team that should be better, and you're looking at a Pittsburgh team that should be good enough. They've been good enough as of late. I'm not going to say they're good enough to win the division, they're good enough to be at that second or third spot in the [AFC] North."

Despite Arrington's comments, no one around the Steelers organization believes that this team isn't capable of winning the Super Bowl this season, let alone winning the division. 

Steelers Have Owned The AFC North In Recent Years

Even though the Steelers have played in arguably the toughest division in football over the last few seasons, that hasn't stopped the team from having success within their own division. In 2023, all four teams in the AFC North finished with a winning record. Despite the division all performing well throughout the season, the Steelers finished 5-1 against their divisional opponents with the lone loss coming against the Cleveland Browns in Week 11.

The Steelers are always prepared and built to handle the tough divisional schedule, but this year, the task of coming out of their division with a winning record is as hard as ever. All six of their divisional games come in the last eight weeks of the season from Week 11 on, and the only other two games they have in that span come against the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and the in state rival Philadelphia Eagles. That is no doubt the hardest stretch to end the season in all of the NFL next year. 

#SteelerNation