The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for the 2024 regular season, but before the real games begin, the team has to head to training camp back at Saint Vincent College in order to fine tune their skills. As we here at SCN prepare you for the start of camp, we give you a series called “30 Scenarios in 30 Days” which gives you a Steelers scenario every day leading up to the start of camp.

It is simple how it works. We provide you the scenario, reasons why it will or won’t happen, and then our prediction for what we think will take place.

Let’s get to the scenario…

Scenario: The Steelers will have a winning September

Why it will happen: The first question might be why the month of September is important. First, it is the month which the Steelers have had the worst record since 2007. Also, every season the Steelers had a .500 record or better since 2007, the Steelers have made the playoffs. If they had a losing September, the Steelers have not qualified for the postseason. So the importance of September under head coach Mike Tomlin has been established.

Since the Steelers have four games in September, going .500 is still on the table. So can the Steelers win three of their first four games? Let’s remember who they face the first four weeks of the season:

Week 1: Sunday, 9/8, @ Atlanta Falcons 1 PM
Week 2: Sunday, 9/15 @ Denver Broncos 4:25 PM
Week 3: Sunday 9/22 vs Los Angeles Chargers 1 PM
Week 4: Sunday 9/29 @ Indianapolis Colts 1 PM

The Steelers start their season against four teams who did not make the playoffs in 2023. The only team who had a winning record last year who the Steelers face in these four weeks is the Indianapolis Colts who finished 9–8. The other three teams had 8 wins (Denver), 7 wins (Atlanta), and 5 wins (Chargers). So for the season, the Steelers have their easiest four weeks at the beginning of their schedule as they don’t face a team who made the playoffs last year until they face the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5. If the Steelers have any aspirations of making the postseason, they need a minimum of two wins in September, which would actually be a disappointment, but really need to make sure they go at least 3–1.

Why it won’t happen: The Steelers simply haven’t started fast in recent years. The Steelers started the 2021 season with an upset victory in Buffalo to only drop their next three games. In 2022 they started off with a big overtime win in Cincinnati only to drop the next four games. In 2023 the Steelers had an embarrassing defeat in Pittsburgh at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers but did bounce back to win the next two games before losing to the Houston Texans on 1 October. So starting fast in September has not been their calling card. Even though the Steelers have their easiest stretch of four games (based on last year’s performances), this could be disastrous based on their own inability to get things together early in the season. Add the fact that three of the games are on the road it’s not a given they will win all of these games. As for the Steelers single home game, it looks like they could have a huge advantage by playing a West Coast team at a 1 PM kickoff. But in 2023, the Chargers were 2–2 in 1 PM games which was much better than their overall 5–12 record. So a 1 PM kick off on the road did not seem to be that big of an obstacle.

The bottom line is, it’s more about the Steelers than their opponents when it comes to starting the season. Although 2–2 isn’t out of the question at all, getting that third win to have a winning record in September is a whole different story.

Prediction: The Steelers can’t start slow in 2024 and expect to have a successful season. Yes, if they become a very strong team at the end of the year against their best opponents it would be a great way to roll into the postseason. But with so many quality teams the second half of the season they have to face, expecting to pull out every game is a tall task. Therefore, more than before the Steelers need to have a strong start.

With a new offensive coordinator and a new quarterback, it’s so hard to know if the Steelers will hit the ground running in Week 1. But with the first game of the season against the offensive coordinator’s former team where he was the head coach last season, and the second game of the season being the new quarterback’s previous team, there is extra motivation to have it together early.

This could go in any direction for the Steelers the first four weeks of the season. When the schedule first came out, I predicted the Steelers to go 3–1 in September. For that reason, I’m sticking with this prediction and believe the Steelers will have a winning record the first month of the season.

Miss a scenario? Check out yesterday’s scenario below, and be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for training camp.

30 Scenarios In 30 Days: The Steelers Will Boast A Winning Home Record In 2024