September Football Might Dictate the Steelers’ 2025 Season

Given their significant turnover in key personnel during the past year, the 2025 edition of the Pittsburgh Steelers is rife with question marks as the team prepares for its Opening Day matchup against Justin Fields and the New York Jets. Perhaps the biggest questions are twofold. First, can Aaron Rodgers physically survive the grueling, 17-game season and become the leader that his offense needs? Secondly, can a team with as many new faces as these 2025 Steelers develop sufficient cohesion quickly enough to take advantage of a favorable early-season schedule that begins with matchups against three teams (Jets, Seahawks and Patriots) that posted a combined record of 19-32 last season?

Mainly because the latter portion of their 2025 schedule presents a considerably greater challenge in terms of opponents, the importance for the Steelers to get off to a fast start this month probably is at least equal to what it was last season, when their early success is what ultimately enabled them to secure another short-lived, playoff berth. But should the Black-and-gold stumble out of the gate against three mediocre opponents, it’s going to be a difficult chore to regain their footing in their next four matchups which include the Vikings, Bengals and Packers.

The key question of cohesion on a Steelers offense with a different, starting QB — having also lost both its No. 1 running back and receiver during the offseason — is likely to be answered fairly soon during the course of September football. On the positive side, no quarterback which the Steelers could have signed offers a stronger command of reading and exploiting defenses than Aaron Rodgers. In fact, if OC Arthur Smith does nothing other than turning Rodgers loose to run the offense as he wishes, the results are likely to be considerably better than what we witnessed last season. Furthermore, there’s good reason to believe that both the young OL and the entire defense will be better this season.

On the other side of the coin, it’s difficult to imagine a successful Steelers season if Rodgers gets bitten once again by the injury bug and misses substantial time. In that event, it’s quite likely that Mike Tomlin suffers through his first losing season as an NFL head coach. Certainly by mid-season, Steelers Nation should have a fairly good idea about which direction the arrow is pointing for this team.

Looking at everything that has transpired since Big Ben hung up his spikes, it’s evident that Coach Tomlin and the entire Steelers organization have opened themselves up to some reasonable second guessing. In recent years, the team has dealt away some highly drafted players who originally had been expected to become the stars of a resurgent Super Bowl contender. But as in the case of other middling NFL teams, the Steelers’ inability to adequately address their QB situation continues to frustrate the other personnel moves that the team has made. In any case, when a team jettisons the level of talent possessed by players like Najee Harris and George Pickens, it’s not a particularly strong indication that the organization is following a methodical approach in its strategic planning.

Recognizing that Aaron Rodgers, at best, will be nothing beyond a short-term solution at QB, the upcoming season still can be successful — provided that Rodgers can demonstrate this team’s capabilities under the leadership of the type of franchise QB which Pittsburgh hopes to acquire. Whether or not the Steelers earn a playoff berth this season, if the rest of the team looks solid behind Rodgers, hopes will be on the upswing during the next offseason that the Steelers finally will solve their QB conundrum after five lean years since Roethlisberger’s departure.

Essentially, what we’re looking at today is a bunch of great expectations. We hope that Rodgers can recapture some of the magic that has made him one of the highest-rated quarterbacks in NFL history. It would be magical to see Rodgers eclipse Roethlisberger and (potentially) Brett Favre while wearing the black and gold.

Likewise, we hope this relatively new combination of Steelers players is capable of developing quickly into a winning team. We hope that, as a newcomer to the main spotlight, Jaylen Warren will blossom into the kind of star foreseen when he stuck on the 53-man roster after the Steelers signed him as a free agent. We also hope that DK Metcalf will make us forget about Pickens — and that Peyton Wilson and Jack Sawyer will help to restore visions of the Steel Curtain linebacker units.

For the time being, excitement is building for the unveiling of a significantly different team from which nobody truly knows what to expect. The Steelers and their loyal fans embark on the regular season next Sunday with high hopes and, quite clearly, they’ll be shooting for the moon. For an NFL franchise with a history of exceeding expectations, that’s not a bad place to be standing.