Photo: steelers.com
For the most part, NFL schedules do not differ much from year-to-year. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, fans can always count on playing each of the AFC North opponents twice during the regular season, accounting for six of the league’s sixteen-game slate.
Aside from the Browns, Bengals, and Ravens, eight of those remaining ten games are determined by a rotating slate against two other divisions, which the entire AFC North will share in common as opponents in 2021.
Pittsburgh’s placement within their own division dictates the remaining two games. Having won the AFC North, and facing the AFC West and NFC North as the common divisions that the Steelers, Browns, Bengals and Ravens will play, the final opponents will also be those AFC division leaders from the remaining two conferences.
In this scenario, that means playing the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans.
That alone makes for a difficult schedule, but with the inclusion of the AFC West and NFC North, the Steelers will face, as of now, the toughest calendar of any team in the NFL for the 2021 regular season. Here are some of the highlights for the upcoming season.
To summarize who the Steelers are playing this season, let me revisit a checklist of the above to make it clearer:
Knowing who the Steelers are up against is important if you want to plan your own schedule or place wagers on Steelers games. If your plan is to bet, we recommend utilizing welcome deposit bonuses at gamblizard.com as one of the best options to increase your earning potential and save your own budget. Casino welcome bonuses allow players to get into the game more comfortably and perhaps even consider placing higher wagers.
You may also find a list of other reputable places to bet on the Steelers at sportsbettingday.
Where you want to direct your betting-attention is a personal opinion, but these are the games that should get fans the most geared up for the next season.
What else can be said about a game played at Lambeau Field?
Depending on what time of the year this game is played, fans can already picture snow – and a potential showdown between two historic NFL franchises each with Hall of Fame level quarterbacks nearing the end of their careers in Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger.
Buffalo is another road game, but a short trip that’s becoming a yearly battle and slowly developing into a rivalry. The Steelers and Bills both had a lot riding on their matchups in each of the last two seasons. One would figure this to be the case again in 2021.
Whichever of the two meetings occurs first (my guess is the league will put the first faceoff in Cleveland) there will be a lot of talk leading up to this one. I would even surmise that it winds up in a primetime slot seeing how the end of the 2020 season played out for the Steelers, with back-to-back losses to their long-time division foe.
You can always pencil in one of the two yearly encounters with the Ravens as “must-see” television. It’s rare for the Steelers and Ravens to not play in primetime. It’s also one of those games that, when played in Pittsburgh, is hotly anticipated and usually sees the Steelers breakout their Color Rush jerseys for an extra emotional edge.
Another road trip… this time to Arrowhead to face the 2019 Super Bowl Champions and reigning AFC Champions.
The Chiefs, specifically with QB Patrick Mahomes, are the new “team to beat”. Playing them in their house will make for a great storyline as well, especially if the Steelers and Chiefs happen to meet later in the season with playoff seeding and/or implications on the line.
There’s a very good chance that most of the Steelers “biggest” games of the 2021 season all occur on the road. Should the league make the Browns and Ravens games at those locations a primetime affair, all of my top picks will be on the road.
The Steelers home opponents aren’t as compelling to me at this time. Of those, only the Titans appear to be a “premier” caliber of opponent, on paper, right now. The Raiders, Lions, Broncos and Bears have all had their struggles over the years and would benefit the Steelers home slate if they continue to be run-of-the-mill teams.
On the other hand, lookout road schedule!
