A team on the rise. Who would have guessed?

When the NFL schedule was released in May there was near universal outrage and panic that the Steelers were given a “bad hand.” At that time, the Steelers were looking at a second half of the scheduled that included 6 games against playoff teams, 6 AFC North divisional games, 3 games against the Eagles, Ravens, and Chiefs within 10 days, and 5 road games. The consensus among talking heads was that this was “finally the season where Mike Tomlin goes under 0.500.” Even the owner of the Steelers made a comment that the schedule was “tough.” When this happened, and throughout the summer, I tried to beat the drum to relax. ON PAPER, this scheduled looked tough. This schedule looked tough based on the prior year(s) teams and expectations of the teams. This schedule looked tough in a vacuum of the off season. This schedule looked tough presuming the “stars” would all remain healthy on the Ravens, Chiefs, Bengals, Browns, and Eagles. This conveniently left out the recent history of Lamaar only finishing 1 of his last 4 seasons healthy. This conveniently left out the recent history of Joe Burrow’s serious wrist injury. This conveniently left out Cincinnati’s terrible defense. This conveniently left out the fact that all of these AFC north teams have to play each other anyway. All of this pushed a narrative. Let’s fast forward to today, November 1st 2024. While some speculated and hoped that the Steelers could some how manage at least a 6-2 record before the bye, not many thought they would do that AND be in the position they are in after 8 weeks. The Steelers are 6-2; however, more importantly they are alone in first place in the AFC North, 2nd in the conference, scoring way more points this season compared to last, have a really strong defense, the best special teams unit in the league, and 2 winning quarterbacks. They, like all NFL teams have suffered some injury setbacks, but have started to get those players back and will get more back after the bye. Even the most staunch of “Steelers haters” in the media will have a hard time convincing anyone right now that the Steelers are phony. The reality is that the Steelers are a team on the rise. The Steelers (and the fanbase should start to feel this way) are not afraid of the second half of their schedule. The rest of the AFC North (plus Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Washington) should be scared of the Steelers.