The NFL’s ‘Unintentional’ Steelers Schedule Feels Awfully Intentional

The NFL schedule makers say planning the Pittsburgh Steelers to play all six of their AFC North games over the final eight weeks of the 2024 season wasn’t intentional. A quirk, a goof, just how the schedule laid out, even though it’s the first time in franchise history they’ll begin playing divisional foes so late in a season.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon, when the NFL announced the first ever divisional Hard Knocks, following the Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns for the final six weeks and playoffs. It becomes the first time ever Pittsburgh will be featured on some version of the show.

Coincidence? That’s a tough sell, Roger Goodell.

Sure. Perhaps NFL Films looked at the Steelers’ layout after the fact and saw the opportunity. Choosing to highlight the AFC North is a smart choice, widely regarded as football’s most competitive division and one that saw all four teams finish above .500 a year ago.

But big businesses like the NFL aren’t reactive. They’re proactive. The league sets the schedule. The league chooses who to highlight on television. And I can’t chalk all this up to the NFL going “well how about that” as they shrug their shoulders.

Honestly, it’s fine for the NFL to set it up that way. It’s good business. Highlight the best teams and most competitive races down the stretch. Putting Pittsburgh on television is always a wise move, a giant fanbase that will compel many — myself included — to sign up for HBO or Max or whatever latest buzzwords they’re using for the channels these days.

And I’m as excited as anyone to take a peak behind the curtain of the Steelers’ normally closed doors. For Friday’s Terrible Take, I mused about the team making a true draft weekend documentary like so many teams do, offering real insight into how the organization built its new class.

Pittsburgh is tightly controlled and turned their noses up at the thought of appearing on Hard Knocks. It’s a distraction (though Mike Tomlin will undoubtedly downplay its impact once asked) while the team focuses on football. You can bet this team especially hates dealing with the camera crew as they hit the stretch run of their season that will define whether or not they make the playoffs or spend it on the couch.  The Steelers have their “The Standard” series but that only offers the tiniest glimpses into the team’s inner-workings, the most we ever get coming in the form of Mike Tomlin’s minicamp speeches that go viral. Everything else is interviews and 4k B-Roll with some generic music accompanying it. It’s a quality production but barely scratches the surface.

I’ll put my conspiracy tin foil hat on for this one. At the least, the NFL saw the opportunity with the oddity that became the Steelers schedule. The league has always wanted Pittsburgh on the show. I don’t know if the Steelers were convinced or strong-armed into appearing, perhaps the NFL’s framing was cameras will be in the other three locker rooms too, making any negative impacts a wash, but we’ll get to see the team like never before starting in December. It seems fully by the NFL’s design.