The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing to host the New York Giants this Monday night at Acrisure Stadium for the conclusion of Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season. The Pittsburgh Steelers have this one final matchup before heading into there bye week and preparing for the homestretch and potential playoff run. If the Steelers are able to push their record to 6–2 ahead of their midseason break, things are shaping up very well as they enter the gauntlet of their final nine games.

For this reason, and not the fact that it is the Steelers last game before Halloween, this is shaping up to be a very scary game for Steelers fans.

Why am I making this statement? When looking at the Steelers opponents for the remainder of the season, based on the first seven weeks they have five games remaining against teams who currently have winning records and five games against teams who currently have losing records. If the Steelers simply won their games against the teams with losing records but we weren’t successful in any game remaining against teams with winning records, they would finish 10–7. But not winning any of those five winning-record games is not an acceptable outcome to me as I would like to see the Steelers show they can hang with the Ravens, Commanders, Eagles, or Chiefs.

But what about those losing records? How bad would it be for the Steelers to drop one of those games?

In looking at the five games, four of them will be against the Cincinnati Bengals or Cleveland Browns. The Bengals have improved to 3–4 as they host the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend and it remains to be seen where they will stand when they finally face the Steelers for the first time in Week 13. As unknown as the Bengals are, who knows what’s going to happen with the Cleveland Browns with the rest of the season. But both of these teams are AFC North rivals, therefore fans know anything can happen in an AFC North matchup.

This leaves the Pittsburgh Steelers only game remaining against the team currently with a losing record who is not a divisional opponent as this week’s matchup against the Giants. Only 2–5 on the year and coming off a 28–3 beat down by the Eagles, the Giants have both questions at quarterback and the offensive line. For this reason, if there’s one game remaining that the Pittsburgh Steelers should win above any others, it’s this week.

Like many Steelers fans, this is a reason this matchup scares me.

I know the adage that the Pittsburgh Steelers have a tendency to lose games to inferior opponents. It’s not an incorrect statement. But when looking across the league, it’s actually what happens with most successful franchises that are often favored to win games. Upsets happen all the time. It’s part of the reason we keep watching. So while the Steelers do have a tendency to lose games in which they’re favored, they really are falling in line with the rest of the NFL.

Still, whether the Steelers are the exception or the rule, it is something that happens. But when it comes specifically to this week and this matchup, the Steelers need a victory.

After back-to-back games of scoring over 30 points and victories by three scores, the Steelers appear to be hitting their stride. Dropping a game to an inferior opponent just before their bye week, rather than rolling into their midseason break as a team on the rise, would not do a lot for the Steelers psyche or that of their fans.

Taking it a little further, the New York Giants are an up-and-down team which can be quite scary. They defeated the hapless Browns earlier in the season, but they also went into Seattle and left with a victory against the (at the time) 3–1 Seahawks. Add in the fact they have one of the scariest defenders in the NFL in Dexter Lawrence, and the fact the team has no reason to hold back in prime time against a quality opponent, and the Giants could be a scary adversary

Just because I think the Steelers are entering a scary situation, mainly for how bad it is if things go wrong, doesn’t mean that I don’t expect them to win. With Russell Wilson looking to make his second start in black and gold, he still has plenty to prove as well as the rest of the Steelers offense. As for the defense, they are on the cusp of being the best in the NFL and need to show that’s who they really are. So there are plenty of reasons for Steelers to show up and take care of business in prime time and roll into their bye  at 6–2.

But it still doesn’t mean I’m not scared.