Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers, under new leadership at head coach, will enter this upcoming season looking to defend their AFC North crown and return to the postseason.
On Wednesday’s episode of “The Bill Barnwell Show,” the ESPN podcast’s host warned Steelers fans about getting their hopes up if the team gets off to a good start, even if the combination of Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers is clicking.
“The Steelers are gonna be one of the top two seeds in the AFC at the Week 8 cutoff, because — while their schedule gets very difficult at the end of the year — it starts Falcons, at Patriots, Bengals, at Browns, Colts, at Bucs, at Saints, Browns again at home,” Barnwell said. “The Steelers could start 6-2, and we could be sitting here like, ‘Rodgers and McCarthy! Of course we knew they were gonna be great together!’ And then it will all come crashing down so quickly once the schedule gets harder.”
Other than New England, the Steelers don’t see a team that had a winning record last campaign until they visit the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 22, in Week 11.
Before a letdown against the Cincinnati Bengals, Mike Tomlin’s Steelers started 4-1 last season — the lone loss during that stretch occurring in large part because of a special teams gaffe against the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
This time around, Pittsburgh will play three games in a 12-day stretch after its bye week — at Cincinnati, at Philadelphia and at home against Denver on Black Friday. Primetime games against Houston and at Jacksonville follow. Mina Kimes, a fellow ESPN analyst and guest on Barnwell’s show, agreed that things could get bumpy.
“That was exactly my thinking when I looked at the schedule and thought about it,” Kimes said. “This happens all the time. I’ve had this happen so many times. … Just wait, just wait, just wait.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Fool’s Gold? Analyst Cautions Steelers Fans About Projected Fast Start
