Can the Steelers repair their late-season slumps even with a troublesome schedule?
Over the previous 5 seasons, the Steelers have tended to lose greater than they win towards the tip of their schedule. The worst occasion got here final season, when the staff dropped its last 4 regular-season video games, then misplaced within the playoffs. In 2023, nevertheless, they dropped three in a row earlier than profitable three. They closed the 2022 season sturdy, however that’s the exception. In 2021, they completed 3-2 of their last 5, and 4-4-1 of their last 9. Going again to 2020, they completed on a 1-4 run.
The cliché goes that you just need to be the staff that’s sizzling in December, however the Steelers have matched the local weather in Pittsburgh. Now, one has to think about accidents, the issue of the schedule, and different logistics. Pittsburgh had a bunch of robust video games late final season.
The factor is, the Steelers, on paper, have a number of robust video games on the docket late this season, as nicely. Within the last six video games, they play the Ravens twice, in addition to the Payments and Lions. The Dolphins aren’t any pushover, and street video games in Cleveland have been a difficulty for them.
The Steelers can’t rely on one other false begin out of the gates for the Bengals. If they’ll’t end this season sturdy, there’s an excellent likelihood they’re a third-place divisional end. Possibly even fourth if the Browns one way or the other find yourself wanting competent with Joe Flacco.
The entrance half of the schedule isn’t essentially a cakewalk, both, a minimum of on paper. They nonetheless play the Vikings, Seahawks, Bengals, and Packers. The “straightforward” video games are the Jets, Patriots, Browns, and Colts. Are they actually going to win all of these and stack Ws within the first half of the yr?
Their greatest likelihood of staving off a late-season slide is that if they’ll get the run recreation off the bottom. Now with Jaylen Warren and Kaleb Johnson within the lead, hopefully with a better-positioned offensive line, and within the second yr with Arthur Smith executing his imaginative and prescient, maybe there’s an opportunity. However I most likely wouldn’t maintain my breath.
The Steelers are rebuilding, or reloading, no matter they really feel the necessity to name it, after one other disappointment final season. Although they limped into the playoffs, they as soon as once more embarrassed themselves therein.
Similar to final yr, the most important query hanging over the Steelers is the quarterback query. Whereas they in the end traded George Pickens, they produce other choices to make. The 2025 NFL Draft class is now behind us, so a lot of the roster building is full.
However we nonetheless have a protracted offseason forward for Steelers soccer, or soccer in shorts. Sure will-he-or-won’t-he conditions stay in play, which we proceed to observe. Now it’s about evaluating the roster in place and filling holes as we go.
