At 6-2 heading into their Week 9 bye week, the Steelers have positioned themselves well for what awaits ahead.
What awaits is a gauntlet of games, including all six of the Steelers' AFC North contests this season. And even that will have to wait until Week 11 against Baltimore at home, as the Steelers return from their bye in Week 10 to kick off the second half of their season at Washington.
When the schedule was released earlier this season, this portion of the schedule looked much more difficult than the earlier part. But while the Steelers face five teams over their final nine games who currently have a winning record, including the Ravens twice, it's not all that different from what they've faced in the first half of the season, where four of their opponents currently sit at .500 or better.
What is different coming out of the bye week for the Steelers is what they're getting back.
The team has placed 15 different players on the reserve/injured list this season. And that doesn't include games missed by players such as guard Isaac Seumalo, rookie center Zach Frazier, outside linebackers Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig and running backs Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson due to injuries that weren't deemed serious enough to warrant going on IR.
The injuries on the offensive line have particularly been troublesome, as the Steelers have been forced to start five different combinations and have four players make their first career start over the first eight weeks of the season.
But Frazier, who has arguably been the best rookie offensive lineman in the NFL in the six games in which he's played, is expected to return following the bye week from an ankle injury.
That will be a boost to a running game that ranks eighth in the NFL entering this weekend at 138.1 yards per game.
Najee Harris, who has rushed for 1,000 or more yards in each of his first three seasons, is off to the best start of his career and is on pace to rush for just over 1,250 yards.
That has been helped in recent weeks by quarterback Russell Wilson's insertion into the starting lineup. Wilson, signed in the offseason as a free agent, missed the first six games of the season with a calf injury after being named the starter coming out of training camp.
Justin Fields, also acquired in the offseason, started six games in his place, leading the Steelers to a 4-2 record while accounting for 10 touchdowns with just one turnover.
Overall, the Steelers' quarterbacks have accounted for 14 touchdowns with just one interception, though they have lost two fumbles. Wilson has averaged 271 yards passing per game in his two starts, the third-highest total in the NFL.
The Steelers haven't had a quarterback average that many yards passing per game since Ben Roethlisberger led the NFL at 320.6 yards per game in 2018.
The team will need continued strong play down the stretch from its quarterbacks as the slate of opposing offenses the Steelers face gets much more difficult. After seeing none of the teams currently ranked in the top-10 in scoring in their first eight games, the Steelers will play five such games over their final nine games. And that doesn't include two games against Cincinnati, currently ranked 11th in scoring offense.
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But the Steelers aren't far off that themselves, averaging 23.4 points per game, which ranks 15th in the league.
And defensively, the Steelers rank second in the NFL in points allowed per game at 14.9.
While they will see better offenses in the second half, the Steelers also have four games in the second half against defenses that are in the bottom 10 of the league in points allowed. Baltimore allows 26.1 points per game, while the Bengals are at 25.4.
The defense also will get a boost coming out of the bye week with the addition of cornerback Cameron Sutton. Signed in the offseason following his release by Detroit, Sutton was reinstated by the NFL and is eligible to return from serving an eight-game suspension for violation of the league's personal conduct policy.
With the NFL's trade deadline coming up on Tuesday, getting Sutton back is almost like acquiring an additional veteran cornerback via trade.
At 6-2, the Steelers currently have an 82.5 percent chance to make the playoffs based on what has happened in the league since 2000. They have a 54.5 percent chance to win the AFC North.
How they perform over the second half of the season - particularly with all of their AFC North opponents still upcoming - will largely determine when they make the postseason as a Wild Card, or whether the team is hosting its first playoff game since 2020.
But the NFL didn't make it easy.
The Steelers twice play on short weeks down the stretch - both times after games against the Ravens.
The first instance will come in Week 12. After hosting Baltimore Nov. 17, the Steelers travel to Cleveland for a Thursday night game.
They then follow a Saturday, Dec. 21 game in Baltimore by hosting the Chiefs on Christmas Eve at Acrisure Stadium.
To be the team they want to be, however, games and scheduling issues such as those will help test the team's mettle. As head coach Mike Tomlin likes to say, "Iron sharpens iron."
