The Pittsburgh Steelers have taken a step back for several seasons now. Since reaching the AFC Championship Game in 2016, they were knocked out of their first postseason contest a year later—despite having had a bye week after going 13-3 during the regular season. In 2018, they finished 9-6-1, missing the postseason in Week 17 despite winning their final game. A year ago, a 0-3 slide at the end of the year again knocked them out of the playoffs, finishing 8-8.
Yes in spite of this negative trend, a number of outlets are bullish about the Steelers and their chances in 2020, even if so much of it rides upon the projections of health for their star quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, who suffered an elbow injury in September that required surgery that remains somewhat clouded in mystery, the precise nature having not been revealed.