Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Steelers Final Eight Games Deemed Most Brutal in NFL

Originally posted on Steelers Now | By Chris Ward | Last updated 5/16/24

The NFL certainly did the Pittsburgh Steelers no favors with their final eight games of the 2024 season. They have eight straight games against teams expected to have winning records, 6-of-8 expected to win over 10 games. On paper, it’s the hardest final eight games in the NFL, according to Sharp. All six of their AFC North divisional games come in that span, too.

Sharp said the eight-game stretch is off the charts, and ridiculous difficult for the Steelers. No other team comes close to the gauntlet that the Steelers will face from Weeks 11-18.

The Steelers have the seventh-easiest schedule from Weeks 1-10, so if there’s any year that they can’t afford a slow start, the 2024 season is it.

the difficulty of the Steelers weeks 11-18 is INSANE

I expected it to be the #1 toughest in the NFL

but it's OFF THE CHARTS bad vs any other team

8 straight games vs teams expected to have winning records

6-of-8 expected to win over 10 games

ridiculously difficult for PIT pic.twitter.com/tGTvZIfeo7

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) May 16, 2024

The Steelers will play three games in 11 days, all against teams that won 11 or more games in 2023.

Week 15: Steelers at Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, 4:25 p.m.
Week 16: Steelers at Baltimore Ravens, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, 4:30 p.m.
Week 17: Steelers vs. Kansas City Chiefs, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, 1 p.m.

President Art Rooney II said earlier this offseason that teams needed to commit to playing on holidays, because that’s where the fan interest has shown to be. He cited the team’s solid attendance for a Christmas Eve game in 2022 against the Las Vegas Raiders, even with frigid temperatures, as evidence.

“We played at home on Christmas [Eve] two years ago and had a great crowd,” Rooney said to Steelers.com. “Hopefully, that’ll be the case. Obviously, we’re hosting a big-time team. That’ll be a game with a national audience. That’ll be an exciting time.”

Rooney said that he has faith in veteran head coach Mike Tomlin to have the team ready to deal with the mixed-bag schedule that has the team playing games on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday this year.

“Mike does a good job of getting guys ready,” he said. “There are no excuses in terms of what day of the week you’re playing. He doesn’t allow for that, or the time of the day. You just have to be ready to go when the time comes. … It’s probably not exactly how I would have drawn it up, but we’ve got to do the best we can.”

This article first appeared on Steelers Now and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: