With the conclusion of the 2023 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers officially finished 3rd in their division, meaning they will play the 3rd place teams from rotating divisions, while going against some fairly weak divisions next season. Overall, the schedule as a whole looks to be not too tough based on their opponents win percentages in 2022. Of course, the Steelers will play home and away games against the division champion Cincinnati Bengals, the Baltimore Ravens (who may or may not have Lamar Jackson next year), and the Cleveland Browns, who are hoping that Deshaun Watson is no longer rusty and can play as well as he did with the Houston Texans.
Abigail Dean /Pittsburgh Steelers
The Rest of the Match-ups for the Steelers
Speaking of Houston, the Steelers will be playing the entire AFC South, including a Texans team that’s dying to show some sort of life for the first time since that disastrous divisional game in 2020. They will also face the Indianapolis Colts, a team that’s also searching for an identity, and a team that hasn’t been able to defeat Pittsburgh since they had 5 rings, including a 24-17 loss in the 2022 season when the Steelers were forced to rotate between Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland at running back for most of the game. Both of these games will be road games for Pittsburgh.
To finish off the AFC South, they will host the Tennessee Titans, a team that has no certainty on their short-term future, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, who roared back from the bottom of the division to take the division away from Tennessee, including a Week 18 win against them to clinch. The Titans have been alleged to be flirting with blowing the team up and starting over, while the Jaguars have just finished their rebuild and are looking to build on a promising end of the year with Trevor Lawrence finally developing as the team had expected him to.
On the NFC side, they will go against the NFC West, with an away matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, a team that has shockingly thrived and made the playoffs, despite trading away Russell Wilson. Because of that trade, the Seahawks will have the 5th overall pick in the draft, allowing them to improve the team better than their own pick can. Pittsburgh will also travel to SoFi Stadium to play the Los Angeles Rams, who had a very rough year of injuries and under performance. There will be many questions on if they’ll be able to bounce back to form or if it’s the end of the line for them and head coach, Sean McVay.
At home, Pittsburgh will face the Arizona Cardinals, who will most likely be without quarterback, Kyler Murray after an ACL tear late in 2022, and meniscus surgery shortly after the new year. They will be looking for a new QB to take them anywhere in 2023, although it will most likely be a rental like Baker Mayfield. Pittsburgh will also host the San Francisco 49ers, who have dominated the last 10 games of the 2022 season, with both Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy at QB for them. It will most likely be 1st round pick Trey Lance at QB, but no matter who they face, this could be the greatest challenge for the Steelers in 2023.
OAKLAND, CA - DECEMBER 09: Derek Carrier #85 of the Oakland Raiders catches a pass and gets tackled by T.J. Watt #90 of the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half of an NFL football game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on December 9, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Pittsburgh will also play three 3rd-place teams from the 2022 season. For the road game, it will be the Las Vegas Raiders, who lost to the Steelers on Christmas Eve. They will most likely be searching for a new quarterback as well, since Derek Carr was benched after the aforementioned game versus the Steelers. There are also questions as to whether or not Josh McDaniels will be fired or not.
The Steelers will host the New England Patriots for the second straight season, after New England bested Pittsburgh early on in 2022. Both teams are in a similar situation, trying to get back to past glories with a new roster. The Steelers are hoping to beat Bill Belichick and avenge old times. Their other home game will be against the Green Bay Packers, who’s starting to see more downs from Aaron Rodgers than in any other year in his career, besides the injured year. There’s still plenty to see from them this off-season, but with this team seemingly spiraling, the Steelers would be looking to capitalize on a team on the downturn.
What do you think about the matchups for the Steelers in 2023? Let us know in the comments below.
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