{"id":279994,"date":"2026-09-06T00:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T00:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/279994\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T00:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T00:58:10","slug":"i-have-the-steelers-bottoming-out-analyst-predicts-rocky-season-for-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/279994\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I Have The Steelers Bottoming Out:’ Analyst Predicts Rocky Season For Pittsburgh\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each NFL season, there\u2019s at least one team that unexpectedly goes from playoff aspirations to complete collapse. Sports Illustrated\u2019s Conor Orr believes the Pittsburgh Steelers could be that team in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I have the Steelers bottoming out just because some team needs to bottom out that surprises us every year,\u201d Orr said this week on Sports Illustrated\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/a> \u201cAnd this is not an indictment of Mike McCarthy. It\u2019s just, your best players are like 38, 43, 34. And so it\u2019s maybe something that happens, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

On paper, Orr isn\u2019t wrong. Pittsburgh enters the 2026 regular season with the NFL\u2019s oldest roster<\/a>, tied with the Atlanta Falcons at an average age of 27.1 years. Key players including Aaron Rodgers, T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward and Jalen Ramsey are all 30 or older, and a dozen total players on the active roster have reached that threshold.<\/p>\n

Even with an infusion of eleven rookies<\/a> on the initial 53-man roster, Pittsburgh\u2019s veteran core brings the average age up enough to top the list.<\/p>\n

Based on the talent that Pittsburgh brought in this offseason, it\u2019s difficult to argue that they will be worse this season. Additional depth at wide receiver and cornerback figures to pay dividends while additions elsewhere have addressed some of biggest roster weaknesses from a year ago. The Steelers added Michael Pittman Jr. at wide receiver, Jamel Dean at cornerback, and Jaquan Brisker at safety, among others.<\/p>\n

A new coaching staff always bring with it uncertainty, but despite the aging core, Pittsburgh\u2019s roster feels more complete than a year ago. The Steelers may be old, but they aren\u2019t necessarily lacking in talent. The question is whether that veteran talent can remain healthy and productive for an entire season.<\/p>\n

Many of the other predictions of Pittsburgh\u2019s downfall this season has centered around the lack of faith in Mike McCarthy or the inability to upgrade at quarterback. Orr\u2019s prediction is different. His argument is rooted primarily in the age of the roster and the possibility that some of Pittsburgh\u2019s key players begin to decline.<\/p>\n

For Orr\u2019s prediction to come true, it probably wouldn\u2019t require a complete collapse by Pittsburgh\u2019s veteran players. Especially in a tough division like the AFC North, incremental declines or injuries to key players can take a toll in a league where not much separates winning and losing.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh has spent the offseason trying to prevent exactly that scenario. The roster is deeper and there is more young talent entering the building. The Steelers believe their veteran core still has enough left to compete. The NFL is always unpredictable, but recent history has taught us that Pittsburgh has consistently found a way to keep their head above water. They\u2019ll aim to do that \u2013 and more \u2013 in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each NFL season, there\u2019s at least one team that unexpectedly goes from playoff aspirations to complete collapse. Sports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[117133,73,75,74,1833,117134],"class_list":["post-279994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-conor-orr","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports-illustrated"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}