Plenty of big games on Steelers’ schedule
For the first time in 25 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers are scheduled to open the season with back-to-back road games.
They will close it with consecutive home games for the first time in a decade. They won’t face a divisional foe until Week 11 and then will play six AFC North games in their final eight.
The Steelers also will play on Christmas Day – against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, no less – for the third time in franchise history. Oh, and they have games scheduled for every day of the week except Tuesday and Friday.
Those are some of the takeaways from the 2024 schedule the NFL released Wednesday night.
“It will be a challenge to deal with all the different days of the week we’re playing,” team president Art Rooney II told the team’s web site. “You have to be ready to adjust to anything with the NFL schedule these days.”
Included in the 17-game schedule – 8 home, 9 away – are five that will be televised in prime time, with three being contested at Acrisure Stadium in October.
To kick off the season, the Steelers will embark on a revenge road tour of sorts. The opener will be played Sept. 8 against the Atlanta Falcons and will mark the return of former coach Arthur Smith, who will be entering his first year as Steelers offensive coordinator after being fired by the Falcons.
It will mark the ninth time in the past 10 seasons the Steelers will open the season on the road.
The following week, the Steelers will venture to Denver, where quarterback Russell Wilson spent the past two seasons before his acrimonious departure that led to his signing a one-year contract to play for coach Mike Tomlin.
The last time the Steelers had consecutive road games scheduled to open the season was in 1999. In 2001, the Steelers ended up playing their first two games on the road when their home opener was pushed until the end of the season because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Steelers will play their 2024 home opener Sept. 22 against the Los Angeles Chargers. They will then hit the road again – for the third time in four weeks – to face the Indianapolis Colts.
“I wish we had a home opener a little earlier in the schedule than the third weekend,” Rooney II said, “but you have to deal with the schedule as it comes.”
The schedule is backloaded with AFC North games. The first encounter with a divisional foe won’t take place until Nov. 17, when the Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens. The only non-divisional opponents the Steelers won’t face down the stretch are the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
“That is going to be quite a stretch,” Rooney said. “It probably will be a meaningful stretch of games, for sure.”
The Steelers play the Cleveland Browns twice in a three-game stretch, including a Thursday night matchup Nov. 21 in Cleveland.
The other three prime time games will be played at home: Oct. 6 against the Dallas Cowboys, Oct. 20 against the New York Jets and Monday, Oct. 28, against the New York Giants.
The bye week is scheduled for Nov. 3. In the second half, the Steelers have a stretch of four road games in a fivegame span. The farthest game distance-wise in that span is at Philadelphia on Dec. 15.
For months, the Steelers knew the prized game on their home schedule would be against the Chiefs, who will try to become the first franchise in the Super Bowl era to win three consecutive championships. It turns out the game has been scheduled for Christmas Day, which falls on a Wednesday.
Because of that mid-week kickoff, the Steelers’ game in Week 16 at Baltimore will be played at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21.
Kickoff for the Christmas game against the Chiefs is scheduled for 1 p.m., and the game will be televised by Netflix. The Ravens also have a quick turnaround and will cap the Christmas doubleheader on Netflix with a game at Houston.
The Steelers played their first Christmas game in 2016 when they defeated the Ravens at Acrisure Stadium on Antonio Brown’s last-second touchdown catch. The following season, the Steelers traveled to Houston and beat the Texans.
For the Chiefs, it is their first visit to Acrisure Stadium since 2018. Counting that game, the Steelers are 0-3 against Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a twotime league MVP and threetime Super Bowl MVP.
After facing the Chiefs, the Steelers will conclude the regular season at Acrisure Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals. In another scheduling quirk, when the Steelers last ended a season with back-to-back home games, they did so in 2014 against the Chiefs and Bengals.
The date and time of the Week 18 game against Cincinnati won’t be determined until after the results of the Week 17 games.
The Steelers will open the preseason Friday, Aug. 9, against the Texans. They will host the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, Aug. 17, and conclude the exhibition schedule the following weekend with a game at the Detroit Lions.
A look at the entire 2024 schedule:
Preseason
Fri., Aug. 9 HOUSTON TEXANS 7 p.m. (KDKA- TV) Sat., Aug.17 BUFFALO BILLS 7 p.m. (KDKA-TV) Fri. – Sun., Aug. 23-25* at Detroit Lions 1 p.m. (KDKA- TV)
Regular season
Sun., Sept. 8 at Atlanta Falcons 1 p.m. (FOX/WPGH- TV) Sun., Sept. 15 at Denver Broncos 4:25 p.m. (CBS/ KDKA-TV) Sun., Sept. 22 LOS ANGELES CHARGERS 1 p.m. (CBS/KDKA-TV) Sun., Sept. 29 at Indianapolis Colts 1 p.m. (CBS/KDKA- TV) Sun., Oct. 6 DALLAS COWBOYS* 8:20 p.m. (NBC/WPGH-TV) Sun., Oct. 13 at Las Vegas Raiders* 4:05 p.m. (CBS/ KDKA-TV) Sun., Oct. 20 NEW YORK JETS* 8:20 p.m. (NBC/WPGH- TV) Mon., Oct. 28 NEW YORK GIANTS* 8:15 p.m. (ESPN) Sun., Nov. 3 BYE WEEK Sun., Nov. 10 at Washington Commanders* 1 p.m. (CBS/ Sun., Nov. 17 BALTIMORE RAVENS* 1 p.m. (CBS/KDKA-TV) Thur., Nov. 21 at Cleveland Browns* 8:15 p.m. (Prime Video**) Sun., Dec. 1 at Cincinnati Bengals* 1 p.m. (CBS/KDKA- TV) Sun., Dec. 8 CLEVELAND BROWNS* 1 p.m. (CBS/ KDKA-TV) Sun., Dec. 15 at Philadelphia Eagles* 4:25 p.m. (FOX/WPGH-TV) Sat., Dec. 21 at Baltimore Ravens 4:30 p.m. (FOX/WPGH- TV) Wed., Dec. 25 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 1 p.m. (NETFLIX**) TBD CINCINNATI BENGALS* TBD (TBD)
