Analyzing the high’s and low’s of the Steelers 2021 schedule
On Wednesday evening the NFL released the full 2021 regular season schedule for all 32 of its teams. The Pittsburgh Steelers, based on 2020’s results, project to have the league’s toughest schedule.
However, that isn’t the only makeup of playing through the games which matters. The Steelers will appear in primetime five times this season, with nine of their now seventeen-games schedule happening at their home of Heinz Field.
Here’s some of the early highlights fans can look forward to this season.
Opening on the road… again
For the seventh-straight season the Steelers will open on the road: they have also opened away in nine of their last eleven Week 1 matchups.
The 2021 season will begin with a short road trip to Buffalo, where the Bills provide a potential Clash of the Titans as the Steelers foil over the last two seasons.
It appears, on paper, to be one of the more challenging games on Pittsburgh’s 2021 calendar – and it happens right out the gate.
Skipping out on cold weather?
The Steelers get two home games in weeks two and three before heading to Green Bay in Week 4.
With both the Bills and Packers games happening in the first quarter of the year, during the transition from Summer to Fall, fans will be missing out on any potential blizzard conditions that have made those venues famous.
However, a December matchup in Kansas City could provide for the snowy landscape we’re otherwise missing in those other two locales.
Finishing in the AFC North
For the better part of the last decade, the Steelers have traditionally ended their season playing the Browns either at home or in Cleveland.
In 2021 the Steelers will host the Browns in Week 17, however, with the newly expanded schedule to 17 games, there is now a Week 18 trip on the agenda as well. The final week will see the Steelers slug it out in Baltimore against another heated rival, the Ravens.
Maybe they get a bye this year?
The Steelers were screwed out of their bye week in 2020, with COVID procedures shifting their Week 8 bye over to Week 4; after they’d already practiced the entire week in preparation to play the Titans.
This year’s bye is slated for the middle of the season, during Week 7. (When they were rescheduled to play the Titans.)
Let’s hope this year’s bye remains in place.
Rematch with the Browns
After the bye week the Steelers will finally get their opportunity for a rematch against the Cleveland Browns during Week 8.
The Browns unceremoniously ended the Steelers 2020 with back-to-back losses in Week 17 and a Wild Card playoff game.
Mark this one on the calendar as the Steelers travel to Cleveland, fresh off of a bye: but the Browns also enter off of a mini-bye with a Thursday Night Football game scheduled in advance, giving them some extra rest as well.
Setup for failure
Speaking of Thursday Night games, the worst scenario on the Steelers 2021 schedule are the games played after they face the Ravens.
The two teams are always known for playing physical football, and especially so against one another. Typically when a team faces the Steelers or Ravens, they aren’t quite recovered to face their next opponent the following week.
The Steelers won’t even get a full week to rest this time, as they play the Ravens at home, then travel to Minnesota within a few days to meet the Vikings for Thursday Night Football.
Similarly, both teams will duke it out in the final week of the season too. Should either of them have to field their full compliment of players for postseason consideration, they will not get much recovery time before the following weekend’s Wild Card Weekend – with some of those games being played on Saturday.
Pittsburgh Steelers 2021 Schedule
| WEEK | DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sept. 12 | @ Bills | 1:00 PM ET | CBS |
| 2 | Sept. 19 | vs. Raiders | 1:00 PM ET | CBS |
| 3 | Sept. 26 | vs. Bengals | 1:00 PM ET | CBS |
| 4 | Oct. 3 | @ Packers | 4:25 PM ET | CBS |
| 5 | Oct. 10 | vs. Broncos | 1:00 PM ET | FOX |
| 6 | Oct. 17 | vs. Seahawks | 8:20 PM ET | NBC |
| 7 | BYE WEEK | |||
| 8 | Oct. 31 | @ Browns | 1:00 PM ET | CBS |
| 9 | Nov. 8 | vs. Bears | 8:15 PM ET | ESPN |
| 10 | Nov. 14 | vs. Lions | 1:00 PM ET | FOX |
| 11 | Nov. 21 | @ Chargers | 8:20 PM ET | NBC |
| 12 | Nov. 28 | @ Bengals | 1:00 PM ET | CBS |
| 13 | Dec. 5 | vs. Ravens | 4:25 PM ET | CBS |
| 14 | Dec. 9 | @ Vikings | 8:20 PM ET | FOX/NFLN/AMAZON |
| 15 | Dec. 19 | vs. Titans | 1:00 PM ET | CBS |
| 16 | Dec. 26 | @ Chiefs | 4:25 PM ET | CBS |
| 17 | Jan. 3 | vs. Browns | 8:15 PM ET | ESPN |
| 18 | Jan. 9 | @ Ravens | 1:00 PM ET | CBS |
