The ink is barely dry on the Pittsburgh Steelers 2020 season but we are working hard to unpack everything. Pittsburgh is coming off a disappointing 8-8 season and with one of the easiest schedules in the league on paper, this team is poised for a big comeback.
Here are our five early takeaways from the schedule.
Steelers still get that prime time attention
Despite their struggles last year, the NFL understands how strong the Steelers fan base is. Pittsburgh landed four prime time games including the late game on Thanksgiving — a home game — against the hated Baltimore Ravens.
Division re-shuffle throws everything around
To protect against potential delays to the start of the season, the NFL has frontloaded the schedule with non-division games. Pittsburgh opens the season with five straight games against non-divisional opponents including the Philadelphia Eagles in Pittsburgh and a tough one on the road against the Tennessee Titans.
A chance for a hot start
Without any division games until mid-October and three home games in their first five, Pittsburgh has a shot to get several wins in the bag before they hit the real meat of the schedule. If the Steelers can get to that first division matchup with the Cleveland Browns at 3-2 or 4-1, it would go a long way heading into the middle third of the season.
11 wins a real possibility
Just scanning over this schedule quickly, there are 11 or 12 winnable games. It will all depend on health. The Steelers could have easily won 11 games in 2019 but once the injuries starting piling up, the lack of depth just buried this group. 11 wins might not win the AFC North but it will get Pittsburgh back into the playoffs.
Early games everywhere
The most welcome surprise for anyone who covers the Steelers is the remarkable 11 early kickoffs. With four games in prime time, this leaves only a single game in the late afternoon time slot. This little treat should give the Steelers an advantage over previous seasons when the schedule was littered with late games.
