For all of the chatter that surrounded them throughout the offseason, not many seemed to have expectations for the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of their international game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4. Even though they had a winning record and were facing off against Carson Wentz, they were still booked as the betting underdogs.
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Nevertheless, Aaron Rodgers, along with the help of D.K. Metcalf, was able to ensure that they flew out of Dublin, Ireland, with the win. The Steelers are off to a 3-1 start once again, and thanks to the efforts of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos, they are now firmly in control of the AFC North standings.
As a result, several analysts, including Colin Cowherd, are now being forced to reassess their end-of-season projections for Pittsburgh. “Their offense has been struggling for seven years,” Cowherd noted.
“It’s the first time I have watched the Steelers offense, honestly, in years, and I was like ‘Oh, they can win a playoff game.’ It’s 2025. That’s a real offense. They’ve got a star receiver, a smart, veteran quarterback. They are good on third down, they run the ball… This is not the Steelers that I’ve watched for the last six years.”
In typical Cowherd fashion, he likened this iteration of the Steelers to that of a previously dysfunctional family member who finally managed to mature and grow up. Of course, there’s still a lot of football left to play, and Pittsburgh managed to have this exact kind of start to their 2024 campaign prior to ending the season on a four-game losing streak and making a first-round exit in the playoffs.
Nevertheless, Cowherd is willing to trust Rodgers, who he believes “looked really young and really vibrant,” to carry this momentum into the later parts of October and November. In the meantime, however, Pittsburgh will be looking to shore up some things throughout the bye week.
Their defense has given up 98 points throughout the first four weeks, which, prior to Week 4’s Monday night games, was the ninth highest total in the NFL. That number will have to come down before they can begin to command some more respect.
From there, however, they will come back to a pair of divisional matchups against the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals in Weeks 6 and 7. It’ll be a golden opportunity for them to tighten their stranglehold on the AFC North, and it could even help them to become one of the first teams to lock up a playoff spot.
The final year of Rodgers’ storybook career is off to a picture-perfect start, but only time will tell as to whether or not this narrative ends up being a fairy tale or a tragedy.
