When the Steelers 2024 regular-season schedule was released last May, there was mayhem and chaos in the streets (not actual streets, the pretend ones on social media).

Why?

For starters, Pittsburgh would have to play all six of its AFC North matchups over the final eight weeks. Second, the team would be forced to endure three games in 11 days (10, if you like to exaggerate and/or are bad at math). C, the opponents in the three games in 11 (or 10) days would be the Eagles, Ravens and Chiefs. Those three teams are pretty good, aren’t they? Yes. And, finally, one of those contests would be played on Christmas Day. How can you make folks who would otherwise be sitting around, eating and drinking with friends and family do that when a football game is on television?

Oh, the humanity.

If you were anything like me and assumed that the Steelers, a team whose preseason win total was set at 8.5 by the oddsmakers, would be a struggling bunch as the final month approached, I can understand why you’d be a little concerned with such a harsh finish to the 2024 schedule. After all, Pittsburgh would be on the wildcard bubble, no? This type of schedule would surely wipe out the team’s chances of scraping into the postseason and also lead to head coach Mike Tomlin’s first losing season (what a relief that would be for some reason).

Fast-forward to now; the Steelers are 14 weeks into the 2024 regular season and just days away from beginning their marathon of three games in 11 (or 10) days vs. three of the best teams in the NFL.

10-3. That’s it, that’s the record. Could you have asked for a better mark heading into all of this? Pittsburgh has a two-game lead over the Ravens in the AFC North with a month to go. Furthermore, the magic number to clinch a postseason berth sits at one or two. I mean, it’s one if the Steelers win one more game, but if the Dolphins and Colts each lose one more, that would also do the trick. Anyway, remember about a year ago when the team was in the throes of losing consecutive home games to two-win opponents? Do you recall how low things felt after that Saturday afternoon defeat at the hands of the Colts that dropped the Steelers to 7-7 and on the outside looking in at the playoffs?

Do you remember how nervous you felt heading into Week 18 and the reality of Mason Rudolph having to defeat the resting Ravens along with the 5-11 Titans having to defeat the everything-to-play-for Jaguars?

That was the most realistic “win-and-get-help” scenario for Pittsburgh clinching a playoff spot last year.

The Steelers should face no such scenarios in Week 18 this year (and they damn sure better not). Instead, if things go swimmingly, they’ll clinch the AFC North with a victory in Baltimore on December 21. If that happens, that Christmas Day game vs. the Chiefs could, I say, could be for the top seed.

At worst, Pittsburgh should head into the postseason as the third seed. OK, that’s not the worst. The worst possible scenario is the Steelers heading into the playoffs as a wildcard seed vs. either the Chiefs or Bills.

Yikes.

But that’s the worst possible scenario outside of missing the postseason entirely.

In other words, there’s a huge margin for error heading into this gauntlet of games.

That’s a testament to the coaches and players for putting themselves in a prime position for success when a lesser team may have stumbled earlier and put itself in an impossible and implausible situation heading down the stretch of the 2024 campaign.

Kudos to the Steelers for cutting their eyelids off and refusing to blink in the face of a scary NFL schedule.