With training camp right around the corner for the Pittsburgh Steelers and many position battles to play out, media personality Colin Cowherd already believes that he knows the fate of the team. On The Herd with Colin Cowherd, he went through each division and gave his playoff predictions. Not only did he have the Steelers finishing third in the AFC North, he has Pittsburgh not even making the playoffs.
Fox Sports
Steelers critic Colin Cowherd is at it again with exclusion of TJ Watt from top 10 active players bound for the Hall of Fame.
Cowherd believes that the Baltimore Ravens will finish first in the division once again and with a healthy Joe Burrow, the Cincinnati Bengals will finish in second place with a Wild Card berth. When he talked about the Steelers, he had concerns about the offense as a whole.
"Steelers, they can't figure out their o-line or their offensive coordinator. I love their roster frankly, I worry in an offensive league about getting it right on that side of the ball."
The concerns that Cowherd issued is believed to be solved during this offseason. The Steelers hired former Atlanta Falcons Head Coach, Arthur Smith, who had a successful two seasons as the offensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans in 2019 and 2020. Pittsburgh also focused heavily on the offensive line in the 2024 NFL Draft, taking Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier with their first and second round picks. Obviously, we haven't seen the new offense in action yet, but Smith already has proved to be an accomplished offensive coordinator that helped land him his first head coaching job.
George Walker IV / Tennessean.com
Steelers' new Offensive Coordinator, Arthur Smith (right) made his name known after a great two year run as the Tennessee Titans play-caller in 2019 and 2020.
The AFC North is one of the hardest divisions to predict year after year. Cowherd even agrees that this division is the best in the league. Last season, every team in the AFC North finished with a winning record, which was the first time ever to be done in the Super Bowl era and the last time it had happened was in 1935 with the NFL West division.
"AFC North, it's the best division in football, so it's inches, not feet."
The Ravens, the defending division champions, are looking to get back into the AFC Championship game, bringing in Derrick Henry and Eddie Jackson. The Bengals are ready to get back into form with Burrow back where if he can play the full year, they proved they can make a deep run. The Browns are hoping that year three of Deshaun Watson finally pays dividends and he can get back to what he was doing with the Houston Texans with their stout defense. Unfortunately for the Steelers, they play all six of their divisional games in a eight week span to end the regular season.
While the AFC North doesn't have a so called "easy matchup," the Steelers did finish with a 5-1 record in the division last season. That was with the services of Matt Canada and an incomplete offensive line. Omar Khan believes he has assembled a solid roster when it comes to the offense. A young offensive line with solid depth pieces, a two-headed monster in the backfield with Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, and a former Super Bowl champion at the helm in Russell Wilson.
USA Today
Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin (right) and Russell Wilson (left) will work together in 2024.
Will The Steelers And Mike Tomlin Prove The Doubters Wrong?
Mike Tomlin rarely finishes poorly within divisional games, with seven divisional titles and has a record of 70-31-1 in the AFC North. Tomlin knows what it takes to win in this tough division and has proven many experts wrong year after year. It should be another season of a close race for the AFC title, with 2024 being more interesting since the division will be featured on HBO's midseason Hard Knocks. Will Tomlin prove Cowherd wrong with a better finish than third place in the AFC North and make another playoff appearance? Steeler Nation should get many answers through training camp and the preseason.
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