The Pittsburgh Steelers will unfortunately have one of the toughest schedules throughout the entire NFL in 2024. The worst part about it is the brutal stretch that comes towards the end of the season. There are many winnable games early on, but once mid-November rolls around, the organization is going to have an extremely tough matchup each week through the end of the regular season. This will include all six AFC North matchups, as well as contests against the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs; all within the last eight weeks of the year. It's safe to say Pittsburgh was dealt a rough hand.
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Steelers President Art Rooney II roams the sidelines prior to a 2022 preseason matchup at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA.
There is no time for players and coaches to make excuses, but it's hard to believe the franchise isn't a little upset about the nature of the schedule at the end of the regular season. Not only do the Steelers have to play eight games against teams that are all expected to have winning records, but Pittsburgh was chosen to play in a game on Christmas Day, which is a Wednesday, against the Chiefs.
Some players on the team have been openly critical about the setup, which is completely understandable, but the reality of the matter is that nothing is going to be changed and Mike Tomlin's group is going to need to find a way to win 10 or more games in a stacked AFC if a playoff berth is going to be achieved. Fans have been questioning why the Steelers' schedule turned out the way it did, and the league's Vice President of Broadcasting gave a little bit of insight.
Onnie Bose joined Ross Tucker on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast on Wednesday and the former player asked Bose about playing games on a Wednesday towards the backend of the year. The NFL wanted to take advantage of the holiday, but Bose also explained exactly why the Chiefs, Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans were chosen.
"You had to find four teams that could be playing each other in some combination. We called it our Christmas round robin. Because of that... we kind of had to focus on a division and they matched up another division and we got to a place where, you know, it's a couple teams from the AFC North, it's the Texans and the Chiefs, you know, desirable combinations where... Pitt-Baltimore, KC-Houston on Saturday of Week 16 and you come back with KC at Pittsburgh and Baltimore at Houston on Christmas. Felt really exciting."
It's interesting to note and hard not to bring up the fact that the Steelers and Ravens played on Wednesday in 2020 after several Baltimore players were battling the COVID-19 virus. The league hadn't had a game be played on a Wednesday since 2012 prior, so the attractive nature of Pittsburgh and Baltimore having experience with a mid-week game was likely discussed internally at the league office.
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Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin (right) and Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh (left) talk during warmups before the game at then-Heinz Field on September 30, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Bose detailed that it wasn't easy figuring out how to come up with an approach to play games on a Wednesday, but after the league thought it through, it made sense given how the schedule works normally.
"Getting to a Wednesday game was challenging, but if you do the math, you know, you can play Sunday to Thursday; teams do it regularly, so what's the shift? Play Saturday to Wednesday. We did a lot of work on that," Bose said.
The biggest issue with this whole thing is the Steelers will be nearing the end of a horrible stretch to finish off the regular season. In Week 15, the team plays on Sunday, which leads to one short week, and then jumping from Saturday to Wednesday is another one. Sure, there is a mini bye entering the final week of the year, but it doesn't make the situation any less difficult for Pittsburgh.
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks to reporters at a Super Bowl LVI news conference outside of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California..
Steelers' 2024 Season Could Be Decided By Thanksgiving
If Pittsburgh doesn't have an extremely strong start to the regular season, it's unlikely that a playoff berth will end up becoming a reality. It would be a huge accomplishment to simply go an even .500 in the final eight weeks of the year, which means four losses could be added. Getting to 10 wins might not be enough to make the playoffs in the AFC, which is why it might be imperative for the Steelers to have at least six or seven wins by Week 11.
Do you think that the Steelers got the short end of the stick when it comes to the NFL's 2024 schedule? Let us know in the comments below!
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