Steelers Now
The Steelers’ front office is making waves this offseason, but bookmakers aren’t impressed, according to the latest NFL odds. FanDuel Sportsbook has the Steelers favored at -175 to miss the playoffs in its Stage of Elimination market.
Pittsburgh is, however, +360 to lose in the Wild Card Round, a fate fans are all too familiar with.
One would think the addition of Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf would catapult this Steelers team into the rarefied air of Super Bowl contention. Yet, those in the know aren’t buying the Steelers as a contender.
But I think the Steelers are a 2025 playoff team. Here’s why Pittsburgh will once again get eliminated in the Wild Card Round.
Aaron Rodgers is 41. CB Darius Slay is 34, while newly acquired CB Jalen Ramsey is 30. Other key players like Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt are also well into the back-nine of their careers.
How can an aging roster, especially at key defensive positions, survive the rigors of a 17-game season and then thrive when the games matter most?
The roster didn’t survive last year. After sprinting to a 10-3 record, the Steelers ended the 2024 regular season with a four-game skid and were summarily embarrassed by the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card Round.
Through the season’s final three games (including the Wild Card), the Steelers defense surrendered an average of 389 yards per game and manufactured less than one turnover per game.
In 2024, the Steelers played all of their AFC North games during the season’s second half. They also faced a brutal December stretch, playing the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Chiefs.
While the 2025 schedule doesn’t have a death march like 2024, it also doesn’t let up. The soft opening month features the Jets, Seahawks, and Patriots. The Steelers must then travel to Dublin to play the Minnesota Vikings.
After playing the Vikings, the Steelers play a Super Bowl-contending Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Chargers, and an improved Chicago Bears team.
The final six weeks of the 2025 regular season don’t get any easier. After the Bears, the Steelers face the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens in consecutive weeks. They then close the season with games against the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, and Baltimore Ravens.
Are the Steelers anywhere close to the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, or Kansas City Chiefs?
Those three teams are the class of the AFC with double-digit wins projected. That’s a problem for the Steelers, especially if they sneak into the playoffs as the seventh seed. They’ll likely have to play one of those teams and receive a tremendous smackdown.
The rest of the AFC isn’t much easier. The Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots, and Jacksonville Jaguars are all playoff contenders. And a healthy Joe Burrow could easily get the Bengals back to the postseason.
With such a stacked field, the Steelers would have to win the AFC North...
