Like the Steelers offense in recent years, this blog hasn’t produced much since January. The last time I wrote an article, the Steelers were playing playoff football. I then responded to that disaster of a game in the healthiest way possible: by disappearing for six months.

But time heals all wounds, optimism has returned, and the annual Steelers fan tradition of talking ourselves into a successful season is officially underway. And that starts by predicting a Steelers season that, for the first time in 20 years, actually has a different feel to it.

Since I haven’t said anything about the Steelers offseason, I’ll address the main points briefly. When it comes to the new Mike at the helm, I’d say I’m indifferent. I love that he’s a Pittsburgher, I love that he’s a quarterback developer and brings an offensive mind and background to a team that’s been lacking that for a while now. I don’t love how he concluded in Dallas, I don’t love his in-game coaching, and I don’t love that he isn’t a young and up-and-coming coach that could bring new ideas and creativity to an old team. So, we’ll see.

I was a big supporter of bringing in Rodgers last year, and based off what I saw I’m glad he’s back. He can still spin the rock as good as anyone with a clean pocket, and with better weapons and more creative playcalling it should be an improvement from last year as long as the offensive line lives up to expectations.

Rather go full in-depth on the free agent signings and draft picks, here are some quick grades for all the key additions:

• Jamel Dean: A-
• Michael Pittman: A-
• Rico Dowdle: B
• Jaquan Brisker: A
• Sebastian Joseph-Day: A
• Brock Hoffman: A
• Max Iheanachor: B+
• Germie Bernard: B
• Drew Allar: B-
• Daylen Everette: C
• Gennings Dunker: B+

And to wrap up my brief offseason synopsis, the Steelers biggest win this offseason was their coordinator hires. With Tomlin gone, the Steelers FINALLY bring in established, respected coordinators to run their sides of the ball. Listening to Kevin O’Connell be distraught about losing Brian Angelichio and hearing so many people around the league praise Patrick Graham is a beautiful thing, and I’m excited to see how these two morph the Steelers into the 21st century football team we’ve all been waiting for.

There’s a bunch more that I want to talk about, but that’s my fault for not writing articles about it when it happened. This piece is about how I think Pittsburgh will fair in 2026, so let’s get into it

Week 1: Falcons @ Steelers

I’m not gonna spend too much time on this one. If the Steelers can’t beat a Tua/Penix led Falcons team at home to kick things off we might be in for a long season.

Off the top of my head without googling, I can name maybe three players on the Falcons defense, and outside of Drake London (who doesn’t scare me whatsoever) they have no receiving threats. And before you say it, no, Kyle Pitts is not a threat. To make matters even worse for Atlanta, their 2025 first-round pick likely tore his ACL while I was writing this article.

So it’ll really come down to how well the Steelers can contain Bijan Robinson. With a new coaching staff across the board there’s no doubt they’ll have to shake off some rust, especially offensively, but that’s enough for the Steelers to lose this game. 1-0.

Steelers 23, Falcons 14

Week 2: Steelers @ Patriots

It’s so frustrating to admit, but the Patriots somehow have another franchise quarterback already in Drake Maye. He’s a gamer and much more likeable than Tom Brady, but my hatred for the Pats still remains.

The addition of AJ Brown and Alija Vera-Tucker are exactly what the Patriots needed, and they should be contenders in the AFC once again. There are really not many holes in this roster at all, and I have really hard time seeing how the Steelers come out on top in this one.

The one wrinkle that I don’t think enough people are talking about is Mike Vrabel’s offseason. Maybe this is dramatic, but if I was a player in that locker room I would have a hard time respecting and trusting Mike Vrabel after what’s come out, and you know he’s going to get pressed about it early in the season.

But these players are making too much money to care about off-field drama after Vrabel just led them to a Super Bowl. At home the Pats are too much for a Steelers team still working out the kinks. 1-1.

Patriots 24, Steelers 17

Week 3: Bengals @ Steelers

I’m so sick and tired of hearing how the Bengals are Super Bowl contenders year after year after year. Has anyone ever stopped to think that Zac Taylor isn’t a very good coach, and maybe Joe Burrow isn’t as good as we think he is?

I’ll give it to the Bengals, trading for Dexter Lawrence was a power move, and adding Boye Mafe and Jonathan Allen alongside him were really good signings. But their secondary is still terrible, and they really didn’t bolster their offensive line much.

Yes, Chase and Higgins are an elite receiving core, but that’s what Joey Porter Jr and Jamel Dean are for. The Bengals have never, and probably will never scare me, and that remains true in 2026. This will be the game that TJ Watt reminds the NFL he’s still an elite pass rusher, helping the Steelers pull one out late at home. 2-1.

Steelers 30, Bengals 27

Week 4: Steelers @ Browns

The NFL putting this game on Thursday night in Cleveland is them basically saying they want the Browns to win. Pittsburgh has somehow never won in Cleveland on TNF (0-4), and I would be lying if I said that didn’t annoy the hell out of me.

All four of those losses though came under a Tomlin-led team, and I have a positive feeling about the team being better prepared on short rest under McCarthy. On the flip side, the Browns come in with a first-year head coach in Todd Monken and two first-year coordinators.

To me Monken just doesn’t seem like head coach material, and although he knows the Steelers well he doesn’t know this non-Tomlin version. He also doesn’t have a very talented roster, especially offensively, and their quarterback situation is a disaster.

Whether it’s Watson or Sanders it doesn’t matter, the Steelers’ defense will dominate this game enough to get them a win. It’ll probably be ugly, but they’ll get it done with a vintage Boswell performance. 3-1.

Steelers 19, Browns 10

Week 5: Colts @ Steelers

The Colts are such a weird team to me. From Jonathan Taylor to Sauce Gardner to Quenton Nelson to Tyler Warren they have big name players, but they’ve never really put it all together in the post-Manning era. They spiraled last year following a hot start, and the Steeler kicked off that spiral after upsetting them in Week 9 last year.

The Steelers have owned the Colts, with an 8-2 record against them over their last 10, and I think that trend continues. Daniel Jones should be close to 100% at this point, and the Taylor-Warren combination will be hard to stop, but this is the week the things start to click for the Steelers offensively.

With Sauce shadowing DK, Aaron Rodgers feeds Michael Pittman against his old team, as he has his breakout game in the Black and Gold. That coupled with a pass rush that’s too much for the Colts to handle get the Steelers the win late behind a buzzin’ Hines Field crowd. 4-1.

Steelers 28, Colts 27

Week 6: Steelers @ Buccaneers

I’ll be in the sunshine state for this one, but the Bucs are another team that are hard to pin down. It feels like they have the talent on both sides of the ball, but since Todd Bowles has taken over the Bucs have averaged the 17th best offense and the 14th best defense across those four years – pinnacle of average.

They added some familiar faces in Kenny Gainwell, Miles Killebrew, and long-time Steeler beloved Danny Smith, and in my opinion got an absolute steal in Ruben Bain late in the first round of the draft. Their biggest move though might have been adding Zac Robinson as their new offensive coordinator.

This is one of those ones that’s just tough to predict – both teams are weird and rarely play each other, but I think this one comes down to turnovers. Whatever team can win that battle gets this done, and I think it’s the Steelers, with Nick Herbig forcing a strip sack late to seal it. 5-1. HUH?

Steelers 26, Bucs 23

Week 7: Steelers @ Saints (France)

After not having played overseas for over a decade, Pittsburgh will be doing so in back-to-back seasons as they take on New Orleans in France. Immediate thought is this doesn’t bode well for them – old team coming off a hot and humid away game going a long way to play the next one – not ideal.

Also not ideal that they won’t be getting Carson Wentz again like they did last year, and instead will face Tyler Shough, a guy the Saints and a lot of fans around the league in general are high on. I personally think he’s a good player as well, and he should have a lot more success in his second year in Kellen Moore’s system coupled with the addition of Jordyn Tyson outside.

As soon as I think of Saints-Steelers I think of the 2018 JuJu fumble + AB finale game and get angry. I was at the 2022 game we won but still don’t feel like that was enough to get over 2018. Unfortunately, I think that feeling for myself and Steelers fans continues here as the Saints snap the four-game win streak.

Cam Jordan has always given the Steelers problems, which he does in this game, and Shough makes just a play or two more than Rodgers does down the stretch to get them a field goal late to win. 5-2.

Saints 23, Steelers 21

Week 8: Browns @ Steelers

A loss the before will take some pressure, but there’s no question this will be staring Pittsburgh in the face yelling trap game. Luckily this is about the point in the season the Browns are bouncing back and forth between whatever quarterbacks they’re starting.

Though I think it’ll be Watson in the first matchup, this time around it’ll be Sanders against a home crowd ready to feast. It’ll have a weird start – Sanders will hit a big play early, or the Steelers turn it over and give the Browns 7, forcing the Steelers to play from behind.

That’ll change quickly though behind multiple interceptions and sacks from the defense, along with Rico Dowdle’s first 100+ yard rushing game as a Steeler. Pittsburgh gets its first season sweep of the Browns since 2021. 6-2.

Week 9: BYE

Week 10: Steelers @ Bengals

Coming off the bye the Steelers will look to complete the sweep of the Browns and Bengals, also last occurring in 2021 (Kenny Pickett God?). I aired out my annoyance toward Cincy in the first blurb earlier on, so I’ll say this – it’ll be really hard to beat this team twice if they’re healthy.

You can only contain Burrow/Chase/Higgins/Brown for so long in a game, and really the only way to do it is with consistent pressure. With the Steelers coming off the week of rest, I think two things happen.

The old dogs – Watt, Heyward, Ramsey – get their feet back under them and get the pressure needed to slow down their offense. Secondly, I think we get our first taste of Patrick Graham making a difference – throwing a variety of different looks, doubling Chase with press at the line, keeping him uncomfortable.

It’ll be a fresh site to have the scheme, rather than the individual players, finally lead the team to a win. Game ball goes to DeShon Elliott, who finishes with 10 tackles, a sack, and a game-sealing interception. 7-2.

Steelers 26, Bengals 24

Week 11: Steelers @ Eagles

And for the third year in a row, the late season gauntlet begins. The Steelers will play four-straight games against 2025 division winners, and then have two of their last four, including the season finale (again) against Baltimore. It’s truly remarkable the league is able to do this, but I guess that’s what you get with a team that always seems to be in it late.

The gauntlet begins with the shit birds in Philly. Fans are losers, coach is a loser, quarterback is a weirdo, but the team as a whole are winners. They always have a top roster in football thanks to Mr. Howie, which is usually led by a dominant defense. Whatever they lose (Brown, Phillips, Blankenship, Dean) they replace (Lemon, Davis, Carter, Woolen).

But I think most people (Eagles fans included) agree that they’ll go as far as Jalen Hurts will take them. 2025 was his first season as a full starter below 600 rush yards and 10 rushing touchdowns, and was arguably his worse year as a pure thrower as well. His OC rollercoaster continues though, so we’ll see if that trend continues in a bounce back season with Mannion this year.

As for this game, it’s a pretty simple one for me. Pittsburgh hasn’t won in Philadelphia in 60 years, and until they can prove to do so there’s no reason why anyone should pick them. It wouldn’t surprise me if it even got a bit out of hand. 7-3.

Eagles 27, Steelers 14

Week 12: Broncos @ Steelers

Although my overall in-person attendance win streak ended last year (9-1) in LA, I’m still undefeated in my last 8 when in Pittsburgh, and I’ll look to extend that streak to 9 on Black Friday this year when Sean Payton, Bo Nix, and the Broncos defense come to town.

Maybe it’s me, but none of the three I mentioned above scare me one bit. Don’t get me wrong Patrick Surtain and the Broncos pass rush will be a problem, but this is the type of game the Steelers are built for. Late season, cold, and right around the time the offensive line is finally hitting their stride.

Jaylen Warren, Rico Dowdle, and Pat Freiermuth steadily lead the charge in the second half as the Broncos defense starts to tire. The Steelers defense also does enough, with Patrick Queen sporting an 18-tackle day keeping all three (or four?) of the Broncos running backs in check.

We’re off the see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Boz! – wins it as time expires, and I proceed to forget my name at Tequila Cowboy to celebrate. 8-3.

Steelers 19, Broncos 16

Week 13: Texans @ Steelers

Twenty years ago, this was a game Pittsburgh came out behind an electric Sunday night crowd and would punch the Texans in the mouth after how they ended the Steelers season last season. Now that Tomlin is gone I guess that’s not completely off the table, but this seems like a classic shit-the-bed game that has fans questioning if the team is actually good or not.

The Texans improved in the offseason and brought in offensive linemen to help protect CJ Stroud better, which was probably their biggest weakness last year. They also brought in Reed Blankenship to bolster what is probably the best defense in the league. That group is gonna keep them in every game again.

The only reason the Steelers were in the first half of the playoff game last year was because of the pressure they put on Stroud. Demeco Ryans is too good of a coach to let that happen again in 2026, and I don’t think McCarthy and Rodgers will be ready for how scary this defense is. They’ll keep this one closer, but they fall at home in what will be costly in-conference loss in the playoff race. 8-4.

Texans 24, Steelers 13

Week 14: Steelers @ Jaguars

I think I might be in the minority here as a Steelers fan, but I do not like the Jacksonville Jaguars. From the Rashean Mathis pick-sixes, the David Garrard playoff loss, the 2017 debacle, this team has pissed me off for twenty years.

That being said, I will tip my cap to Liam Cohen after last year. He brought the best out of Trevor Lawrence finally, and has put together a pretty complete team. Whether Lawrence can take another step this season will determine how far they can go.

This will be the game where the investment in the secondary will pay off for Pittsburgh. Brian Thomas Jr, Jakobi Meyers, and Parker Washington is a great receiving core, but this is why you get Jamel Dean and Jaquan Brisker. The backend picks off Trevor Lawrence twice, one by JPJ and another by Dean. The latter happens late, and sets up a Boswell game-winner. Pittsburgh hits in over in wins (8.5) for at least the seventh year in a row and rope us right back in. 9-4.

Steelers 22, Jaguars 19

Week 15: Ravens @ Steelers

I got in an argument with a Ravens fan a couple months ago at a bar over how the Steelers own Lamar Jackson. His only response was “but you guys still haven’t won anything” which is true, but we don’t have Lamar Jackson. We haven’t had the expectations they’ve had, and it’s hilarious how we’ve been able to handle the Ravens.

It’s different this year though now that the near two-decade long Harbaugh-Tomlin rivalry changes to Minter-McCarthy. Even more so, the Ravens absolutely nailed their coordinators in Anthony Weaver and Declan Doyle. If the hype is real around Doyle he may be a head coach in 2027, and I won’t lie and say I’m not scared of the Ravens offense this year.

They’re a well-run organization, and I think they have a really big bounce back year. The loss in Week 18 last year still stings, and I think they come out and punch the Steelers in the mouth. Not only do they dominate, but they bring take a two-game lead in the division. Vintage Lamar Jackson game in Pittsburgh shuts me and the noise up. 9-5.

Ravens 31, Steelers 20

Week 16: Panthers @ Steelers

The NFL making this a flex game on Christmas weekend makes it seem like they think the Panthers will be good again (good as in NFC South good, not actually good). That division is so bad they might still be playing for something, but there’s not much about this team that should scare any team in the NFL.

Bryce Young coming to Pittsburgh this late in the season in what should be a freezing cold game, it would be absolutely stunning to see the Steelers drop this game. Coming off the loss in the Ravens big Mike will have this team ready to bounce back.

This will be a dominating performance by the Steel Curtain. Two sacks from Watt, one from Cam, and Joey Porter Jr holds Tet McMilan to only two catches. Rico Dowdle scores against his old team, along with Darnell Washington who has a career game. Pittsburgh gets back on track and stays in the playoff race. 10-5.

Steelers 30, Panthers 20

Week 17: Steelers @ Titans

I think the Titans will be an improved team in 2026 – Saleh/Daboll/Bradley is a very positive overhaul in the coaching department, and I’m a Cam Ward believer and think he’ll be much better in year 2. That doesn’t mean there still aren’t a lot of questions around this team though.

Like the Falcons defense, off the top of my head without really thinking hard about it it’s difficult to name a player on that side of the ball other than Jeffery Simmons. But they did make moves in the offseason, adding John Franklin-Myers and Alontae Taylor.

I have a bad feeling that this game will feel like Mike Tomlin is the coach. Tennessee will be eliminated, and a win for the Steelers almost (or does) put them in the playoffs. And for whatever reason, the team fails to show up. The Titans are trying to play spoiler, and they do. They play harder, run the ball well, and make timely plays when they need it. The Steelers look like they just expected to win coming in and get somewhat handled. And you know what that means for Week 18. 10-6.

Titans 24, Steelers 16

Week 18: Steelers @ Ravens

Well well well. Here we are again for the second year in a row, with the last game of the season determining the AFC playoff picture. Luckily (or not, depending on how you look at it) for Pittsburgh, it’s different this year. With the Steelers loss in the previous week, the Ravens clinched the AFC North. And that means no Lamar Jackson, among a few other starters, in this game.

We’ve seen this Week 18 scenario twice before. In 2021, Ben’s final regular season game, and in 2023 with Mason Rudolph. In both games, the Steelers narrowly beat Tyler Huntley to sneak into the playoffs. As crazy as it is, as it stands now Huntley would again be the quarterback in this hypothetical playoff-clinching scenario.

With the emotions from last year’s game, in Baltimore, there’s no question they’ll do everything they can to keep Pittsburgh out of the playoffs. The defense one the previous two versions of this, but this time it’ll be Aaron Rodgers that wins it for Pittsburgh. Knowing it’s his last regular season game, he’s not quite ready to hang them up yet. A 300-yard 3 touchdown game sends Pittsburgh back to the playoffs for a Wild Card game for the fourth year in a row. 11-6.

Steelers 27, Ravens 21

Playoffs: Steelers @ Ravens

What do the Steelers get for beating the Ravens to go to the playoffs? A first round playoff matchup vs the Ravens. I don’t know why I like torturing myself with these predictions, but this just seems like it’s too perfect. There’s Lamar Jackson and all the playoff noise – he can’t get over the hump, he falls in the biggest moments, he can’t beat the Steelers.

Then there’s TJ Watt and Cam Heyward. Two players that have given the Steelers everything, with a whopping 2 playoff wins to show for it between the two over the last 15 and 9 years of them on the team, respectively. Is this the year they can finally breakthrough?

As bad I want it for them, I think they fall short once again. Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry are simply too hard to contain for a full 60 minutes, and the Pittsburgh offense once again makes uncharacteristic turnovers in the postseason. I don’t think it’ll be disaster of a game like we’ve seen in recent years – the Steelers will compete for almost a full four quarters but run out of gas at the end.

It’s a painful exit once again, and even though it’s only year one there will be a lot of questions around McCarthy being the right choice over a young guy.

Ravens 27, Steelers 21

Recap

I’ll admit, as a fan it’s really hard to drop the Tomlin-Esque feeling around this team, especially when it’s a guy like Mike McCarthy replacing him. I’ve loved all the things I’ve heard from camp this far about the upbeat pace and attention to detail around drills, but McCarthy’s ending in both Green Bay and Dallas aren’t forgotten.

Like I mentioned earlier, if there’s one thing that can make a noticeable difference in this team that I’m not accounting for is the two coordinators they hired. If Patrick Graham lives up to the hype they have a chance of having a real top five, dominant defense with the personnel they have. I don’t think the offense can be the same with Rodgers’ mobility restrictions, but if Angelichio can utilize the size of the receivers over the middle of the field I don’t think a top twelve offense is out of the question.

But what do I know. Everyone is just guessing until the pads are strapped up on September 13th. I do know one thing though – it feels real good to have Steeler football almost back.

Here. We. Go.