Steelers Insider Predicts Mike Tomlin's Incredible Non-Losing Season Streak Will End In 2023

Despite starting the 2022 NFL season with a 2-6 record, the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled together around the return of a healthy TJ Watt and the resiliency of rookie quarterback, Kenny Pickett. The team went on a 7-2 run to finish with a respectable, but playoff-less, 9-8 record. While the postseason is always the goal, the Steelers found hope for the future in the way they wrapped the year up, but they also helped Mike Tomlin secure another season above .500. This has been a staple of the Tomlin era, never having a losing season in his sixteen years coaching the team, but according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, that ends in 2023.

Steelers Start Rough Then Finish Rougher

Any Steelers fan who watched the NFL reveal its 2023 regular season schedule recognized the opening game against the San Francisco 49ers as a challenge and a half, especially for a team eager to put their rebuilt offensive line to the test. Depending on how you see the retooled line stacking up, the results could be drastically different.

First-round pick, Broderick Jones, has already dazzled with his size and it didn't take long for the media to be watching every move Jones makes as Pittsburgh writer, Christopher Carter, tweeted during the start of rookie camp.

Jones, who will probably team up with fellow newcomer to the Steelers, Isaac Seumalo on the left side, will be taking on the NFL's best defense from 2022 to kick off the season. All the talk coming out of both teams' camps will be positive and encouraging to the players in the facility, but apparently, that doesn't extend to everyone. In his recent article previewing the Steelers' season, Kaboly sees some positives for the season opener, but most of that rests on the defense. He puts forth the new defensive coordinator but seems to be hesitant about giving too much credit to the Steelers' offense.

"The Steelers could look at this opener as a positive thing as well. The 49ers have a new defensive coordinator, and the quarterback situation is still up in the air..."

That's hardly a whole-hearted endorsement for a Steelers' team determined to bring back grit and aggressiveness on the field. 

Steelers Predicted To Have Stumbles

There have certainly been seasons where the daunting strength of schedule was enough to spend most of the lead-up worrying, but this is not the season to do so. Most recently, the Steelers went into the 2021 season with the hardest schedule in the NFL, then it got a bit easier with them having the 12th hardest in 2022. Either of those, especially the brutal 2021 schedule, would be situations that are more deserving of a less-than-ideal forecast when compared to the schedule that the Steelers have ahead of them this season with the 19th hardest schedule in the league.

Kaboly points out several areas of the season that could create issues for the Steelers, but the most significant is their final stretch that sees Pittsburgh hosting the Cincinnati Bengals, then traveling to the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens to close out 2023. This is in stark contrast to him admitting in the same article that the Steelers, under Tomlin, enjoy consistent success in December.

"Now, the Steelers are known to play well in December under Mike Tomlin, with the fourth-best record since 2007 (47-26) in the year’s final month."

Watching the 2022 players and coaching staff (Matt Canada being the exception) grow and learn as the season progressed indicated that this Steelers team will enter 2023 with the experience that comes from starting underwater and finishing on near-dry land. The way the offensive line found sustained success last year presents a hopeful situation for even more of the same with the talented additions brought in. The Steelers also addressed the way the defense floundered in Watt's absence by creating a situational rotation that could become a "Watt conglomerate" of sorts if necessary.

It's difficult to see the trepidation Kaboly has in giving the Steelers too much credit. In years past it would be understandable as the offseasons were long and empty, but a massive shift in their approach that has already shown promise should makes people lean even further from the perspective Kaboly has for 2023.

Steelers Set Up For A Historic And Negative Year?

Kaboly looked over all 17 games and 18 weeks of the upcoming season and his conclusion was that, despite positive moves, excellent additions and a hopeful attitude throughout the facility, 2023 will be the year that finally ends Tomlin's streak of never having a losing season.

A very tough start against the 49ers, two possible trap games against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans, and the brutal three-game stretch to finish it off, all added up to a record of 8-9 for the 2023 Steelers. That subpar record is unlikely to get anyone into the postseason, which puts the Steelers at a third-place finish in the AFC North, and another playoff run spent on the couch.

With nothing but respect for Kaboly, the Steelers have much more than a losing season to look forward to. All that's left is to prove it!