USA Today’s Nate Davis does not see the first season of the Mike McCarthy era in Pittsburgh going well. After predicting the Steelers would go 11-6 last season (they finished 10-7), Davis sees regression across the board due to an “aging defense” and Aaron Rodgers. Davis has the Steelers finishing 2026 at 7-10 and third in the AFC North.
“New coach Mike McCarthy is intimately familiar with QB Aaron Rodgers and seems to be the beneficiary of a few offensive upgrades. But an aging defense needs to turn back the clock, and an aging Rodgers will have to navigate a first-place schedule that includes a trip to Paris and the Black Friday game. It feels like a high bar, especially if the Ravens and Bengals rebound,” Davis wrote.
I’m not really sure that the trip to Paris or playing on a short week for Black Friday are daunting parts of the Steelers’ schedule. The team managed its trip to Dublin just fine last year, and a Black Friday game isn’t any different than playing on Thanksgiving or really playing on any Thursday.
But the Steelers are playing a first-place schedule, and the Bengals and Ravens should be better with Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson healthy. Those are valid concerns, and the Steelers have a brutal stretch from Week 10-Week 15 that could decide their fate. But the first half of the schedule has plenty of winnable games, and a seven-win season would be a major letdown.
Given that the Steelers got better on offense and have hopes for an improved defense with Patrick Graham, the expectation should be at least matching last season’s 10-win campaign. Anything short of that would be disappointing. Even factoring in the health of the Ravens and the Bengals, the Steelers still went 2-0 against the Ravens with Lamar Jackson and still lost a game to the Bengals with Joe Flacco.
Those teams getting better/healthier is a factor, but neither got significantly better, so the games are still winnable for Pittsburgh. Divisional games are always a dogfight, and that will be no different this season.
The Steelers have enough talent to return to the playoffs, and something would really have to go wrong for them to win just seven games. While that could set them up for the future with a higher draft pick in a quarterback-rich class, Aaron Rodgers’ last season should also provide some extra motivation for the Steelers, and there’s a lot of potential with a new coaching staff.
Predictions are just that and shouldn’t be read into very much, but it would be really surprising if the Steelers finished as poorly as Davis projects.
