Whoever was in charge of scheduling the Pittsburgh Steelers opponents did them dirty for the 2021-22 season.
Upon taking a glance at the regular-season slate that awaits the Steelers next season, a blind man could see that regardless of how good they are and what all they are capable of, it will be a brutal trek nonetheless.
Pittsburgh already has it rather rough by being required to participate in the AFC North, one of the most cutthroat divisions in the entire National Football League currently. However, the Steelers can typically handle three of their most familiar foes making up almost forty percent of their schedule on an annual basis.
What they cannot endure is ten games facing 2020 playoff teams, that sit amongst a total of eight opponents that are coming off of non-losing years (the Raiders were 8-8 last season). Also, half of those aforementioned postseason powers will be hosting Pittsburgh.
Bad offseason luck is not new to the Steelers by now, though, as their misfortune has continued smoothly since the announcement of their future foes. Not only have big-name talents departed due to retirement or free agency, but a 17th game was slapped onto the regular-season stretch for 2021, and who does Pittsburgh have to battle as a result? The Seattle Seahawks, who are not much of a pushover as of late.
With all of these sour times that the Steel City finds itself in, it is as good of a time as any to break down who exactly has the powerhouse beading the most sweat. With that said, here are the three biggest out-of-conference obstacles that the Steelers have to tackle in the 2021-22 regular season.
#3: Buffalo Bills
Buffalo was just short of a Super Bowl run last season, falling at the finish line when the Kansas City Chiefs hosted them for the AFC Championship Game. Dual-threat quarterback Josh Allen was no joke in 2021, turning out to be a strong candidate for the regular-season NFL MVP Award that Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers eventually walked away with.
The Bills welcome Pittsburgh to Buffalo after handing them the biggest loss of their regular-season stretch on the exact same field, by a score of 26-15.