I don't know about other fans, but when I perused the Pittsburgh Steelers' 2025 schedule, I came away with the conclusion that Roger Goodell and the NFL are out to get us. What other conclusion would you arrive at, considering we have to play thirteen games in a row?
Every year for the last twenty years or so, my son and I have predicted wins and losses. I'm sure you do the same thing. In fact, I would offer that most Steelers fans do the same thing. In any event, we have been surprisingly or unsurprisingly, depending on your perspective, accurate to within two games with our predictions.
After having gone through the Steelers' 2025 schedule, we end up predicting either a seven or eight-win campaign, and the best-case scenario would have us winning 10 games. I truly don't believe we will win 10 games this season, but we shall see. I suppose it could have been worse, but not by much.
Pittsburgh Steelers' schedule quirks may spell doom for the 2025 season
As others and I have pointed out, we have a thirteen-game stretch after the bye week. Coupled with the fact that we truly only have two back-to-back home games, the opportunity to get into a rhythm, to get lathered up, as it were, or whatever cliche you want to insert, may not present itself.
The other scheduling fiasco that is, in my opinion, both a blessing and a curse. The fact that we will play a home game in Dublin, Ireland. I appreciate that we will be one of the teams this season to represent the NFL in an international game, but to take away a home game is, to me, a deliberate move, although Mike Tomlin seemed really excited about the opportunity to play overseas.
If we win the Ireland game, great. No harm, no foul, so to speak. If we lose, we go into the bye week knowing that we will have one less home game to possibly get back on track. I don't think it's a stretch to say that we have traditionally played better at home than we have on the road.
So, let's recap. We have a Week 5 bye week, we open the season on the road against the New York Jets, which, in and of itself, is not an easy task, and we only have one true home game before we travel to New England, and then it's off to Ireland. While we will not examine every game, I think you get my point.
For a team that has traditionally been 'streaky' under Mike Tomlin, there is no chance this season, at least on paper, to get on a winning streak.
We will have to rely on winning a road game or two that we perhaps should lose. Not to mention the fact that we probably can't afford to lose more than two home games. Like anything else we discuss, we will find out soon enough how the 2025 season will shake out.