Even before the schedule was laid out, the Pittsburgh Steelers had one of the toughest slates of games in the entire NFL. Then the official schedules came out and the way the league broke down the games, it made the challenge even harder.
This was a sentiment team President Art Rooney II shared rather subtly when he spoke to Steelers reporter Missi Matthews shortly after the schedule announcement.
“Not exactly how I would have drawn it up, but we’ve got to do the best we can,” Rooney said.
The Steelers face an incredible amount of hurdles on this schedule, including having all six AFC North matchups in the final eight games. A brutal three-game stretch in 10 days in December follows three prime-time games in four weeks in October.
Mike Tomlin is headed into his 18th season as the Steelers head coach and he’s never had a losing season. There’s no denying this schedule puts that streak in serious jeopardy.
