ESPN writer Bill Barnwell put together his list of the NFL teams he thinks are most likely to be on the decline this season over last. On Barnwell’s list, he actually lists three of the four teams in the AFC North, which we found somewhat surprising.
Along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he also has the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns on the list. Every team in the AFC North went over .500 in 2023 and all three of these teams made the playoffs last season with the Cincinnati Bengals being the only one who missed the cut.
Here’s what ESPN had to say about the Steelers taking a step back from their 10-7 record in 2023.
The résumé is the résumé. Leave the Mike Tomlin aura out of the picture and there’s no more obvious pick for a team whose record doesn’t hold up under any sort of scrutiny. The Steelers will find it extremely difficult to win 10 games again if they play the way they did in 2023. There’s just no track record for a team being able to do this year after year without eventually either improving their underlying performance dramatically or having their record fall back to Earth.
There’s no denying the Steelers are an anomaly. And as much as we all want to assume head coach Mike Tomlin will somehow work his magic and limp to a winning record, this schedule says otherwise.
