Barring anything out of the ordinary, the Pittsburgh Steelers (the greatest football team ever) (yes, I said what I said) should announce their 2026 regular season schedule today.
Now there have been some “leaks” – to be more honest, we’re talking about games that are outside of the normal 1pm Sunday or 4:25pm Sunday contests. These are usually prime time affairs, or special event games. And due to the NFL’s setup and the Steelers’ appearance in the AFC North, we’re already sure of six games on the schedule – home and away against the Browns (two wins for us), the Bengals (two wins for us), and the Baltimore Ratbirds (two wins for us).
But what else is on the schedule at the moment?
Right now I’m seeing a Week 1 home game against the Atlanta Falcons, a Sunday 1pm start. This is key. The Steelers usually don’t get Week 1 home openers, mostly because they share their stadium with the University of Pittsburgh, while the baseball Pirates are still fighting to stay above .500 ball.
There’s a leak that the Steelers host Cincinnati in an early-season matchup on Week 3 for a Sunday 1pm start. Good. Get those striped drizzlers out of the way now. I didn’t like that one season where they back-loaded all the AFC North matchups for the end of the year so that the division could be featured in-season on HBO’s Hard Knocks.
We also get the NFL’s new “Black Friday” game, a contest played after Thanksgiving, where Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos travel to Acrisure Stadium for a 3:00 p.m. Friday game. Yeah, I have no love for the Broncos. I still hold a grudge against them for the one time Tim Tebow actually threw a decent touchdown pass, and he did it against us in the playoffs. UGH.
Apparently in Week 7, the Steelers go to Paris as the visiting team against the New Orleans Saints. This should be an interesting contest. This would also make two international games in consecutive years for the Black and Gold, as we hosted (and won) an Ireland game last year.
We’re getting what appears to be the maximum of five prime time games, because in Week 13 the Steelers host the Houston Texans. This is a rematch from last year’s playoff game, in which CJ Stroud made the Steelers look totally confused … before the Texans got whomped against the Patriots the next week. I want revenge for this.
Week 14 looks like a Monday Night Football tilt, as Pittsburgh travels to Jacksonville for a Monday night game against the Jaguars. Great. TJ Watt can plant Trevor Lawrence into the ground at least five or six times, and it still won’t be enough. 😀
So what am I hoping for this year? Another winning season, perhaps a division title, and a decent run in the playoffs. Even if I have absolutely no idea who will take snaps under center (will Aaron Rodgers finally float up a puff of smoke and rejoin the team, or are we relying on rookie Drew Allar or backup Will Howard or even Mason Rudolph). Even if I have no idea how new coach Mike McCarthy will do after all the years we had with Mike Tomlin.
No. I do not know. But I can hope. And I can dream. And I can totally imagine a seventh Super Bowl.
Make this happen.
Trust me, I have plenty of Terrible Towels to shake for this year’s contests.
And plenty of optimism.
#HereWeGoSteelers
Chuck The Writer 