Looking Ahead at the rest of Steelers Season

While many of yinz, me included, may not have predicted a Steelers playoff run at the beginning of the year, it may have been written in the stars. The Steelers might be one of the most painful offenses to watch in the NFL, but defense wins championships, sometimes. Is this Steelers defense good enough to get them there? Absolutely. Even more so after the Bengals vs Ravens Thursday night football game. On that note, let’s take a look at the current state of the AFC North.

The Steelers may not have played on Thursday, but they were definitely the biggest winners. The Bengals, who had a really slow start to the year but were starting to catch fire the last few weeks, just lost their starting QB Joe Burrow for the season. The Ravens on the other hand, have been really good to this point in the season, but just lost their best offensive player for the year due to Mark Andrew’s ankle injury. While no one should root for injuries, these are lucky breaks for the Steelers because now the black and gold suddenly have one of the easiest schedules in the league to finish out the year. How? Well let’s look even deeper.

Next week, they make the short trip of 130 miles or so to what some might call their second home, Cleveland, to play a rookie QB making his second career start after Deshaun Watson’s shoulder injury. Dorian Thompson-Robinson did not exactly ‘wow’ people in his first start versus the Ravens, where he finished the game with 3 interceptions. Pair that with Mike Tomlin's 24-5 record vs rookie quarterbacks and this game should be a win. After that, the Steelers will have to travel to Cincy, where they will take on QB Jake Browning, who does not exactly strike fear into my heart as he similarly will be making his first career start. A team with Matt Canada calling the plays shouldn’t be counting wins before they play the games, but this should be another win bringing the Steelers win total to 9-3 on the year and due to the tiebreaker over the Ravens, the true kings of the North will remain atop the division. 

Weeks 13-15, the Steelers play the Cardinals (2-8), the Patriots (2-8), and a frisky Colts (5-5) team with Gardner Minshew at the helm. As long as the Steelers stay healthy and the offense continues to not turn the ball over, these games should yield a favorable outcome. Week 16, the Bengals and Jake Browning come to the Steel City, and barring Jake Browning becoming Joshua Dobbs, I believe the Steelers will be able to finish that game with a win as well. 

This is where things can be a little rough. Week 17, the Steelers need to travel all the way to Seattle to play a pretty good team in the Seahawks (6-3). This is the game I could see ending the Steelers winning streak as we will likely be looking ahead to the trip to Baltimore Week 18, where it is likely the AFC North will be decided. 

I understand that one should never count their chickens before they hatch, but the Steelers surely have a top 3 easiest schedule the rest of the way. Again, we NEVER root for injuries, but they are part of the game and with the injuries to key players around the AFC and many teams failing to meet expectations (looking at you Bills), the Steelers might even have the opportunity to win a playoff game if they make it there. I am really excited to see how the rest of the season plays out, even if the offense makes me want to pull my hair out. 

(P.S.- I can look ahead and think a game is a win, but I’m nobody. The Steelers should (hopefully) prepare for every game no matter the opponent. I’ve endured trauma from Mike Tomlin failing to prepare for inferior competition in the past and while I am hopeful, I am ready to be hurt again.)