The NFL unveiled its full schedule for the 2024 season on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II made it known that he doesn’t love the gauntlet that his team will have to go through.
“It’s probably not exactly how I would have drawn it up, but we’ve got to do the best we can,” Rooney said. “On the positive side, we’ve got some high-profile, marquee games with the Cowboys and the Chiefs on Christmas Day, a couple of other primetime games. We’ll be playing in front of a big audience most of the time, which is a good thing. A lot of the division games are at the end of the schedule, so it will be an interesting stretch there toward the end.”
The Steelers have the third-toughest schedule in the NFL if you base it off last year’s records. That’s because the AFC North is loaded with playoff-caliber teams.
That being said, the Steelers actually had a 5-1 record against division opponents last season. Their only loss was to the Cleveland Browns.
Even though Rooney doesn’t love Pittsburgh’s schedule, he did admit that he thinks the Week 9 bye will be perfect for Mike Tomlin’s squad.
“I like where the bye came. It’s always good to have it more in the middle of the season,” Rooney explained. “That will be good. You have mini-byes in there with a Thursday game and a Wednesday game. It will be a challenge to deal with all the different days of the week we’re playing. You have to be ready to adjust to anything with the NFL schedule these days.”
The Steelers will need to be well-rested if they’re going to make a run in the second half of the season.
NFL fans can watch the Steelers face the Falcons in their season opener on Sept. 8.