3 bold predictions for the Steelers 2022 season

1. Steelers bold prediction: Mike Tomlin finishes below .500

If you’re wondering why this would be considered a bold prediction, it’s because this is something that has quite literally never happened. Since Mike Tomlin became the head coach in Pittsburgh back in 2007, the team has never been below .500 at the end of the regular season and, perhaps even more impressively, that run includes just three 8-8 seasons as well.

Now, the new 17-game schedule makes a .500 finish nearly impossible unless the team were to go 8-8-1 with a tie involved. But 8-9 or 9-8 is a far more likely outcome in any capacity.

When you get down to it, Tomlin’s track record has given us every reason to believe that he’s going to be able to get the job done and milk the best out of this roster every single time they take the field. The problem with that in the 2022 season, though, is that I’m not sure that what Tomlin is able to get out of this team is enough to get them to nine wins.

For as much as I believe in the defense, there is a lack of faith in the quarterback situation and even more so in the offensive line. The lack of protection up front is going to make life hard for Trubisky or Pickett and, in addition, Najee Harris as well. Subsequently, there’s going to be an insurmountable amount of pressure on the defense to win games because the offense will be hamstrung on so many occasions.

The defense will pull through and do that job at times, but the fact of the matter is that there is too much turnover and change on the offense — and not enough filling of holes up front — for this team in a great division to ultimately compete and keep this streak of Tomlin’s alive.