If at all, any team that dominated the offseason headlines—it will be the Pittsburgh Steelers. From blockbuster trades to drafting promising rookies, the Steelers have tried to put together a dominant roster for next season. However, without a clear starting QB, things have continued to look shaky in Steel City. So, given that they don’t yet have the most important piece on the gridiron. The NFL took a drastic decision. But for some reason, their owner, Art Rooney II, remains unhinged even though the NFL snatched something that belonged to them last season.

Once the schedule of the 2025 season was released, the Steelers got some bad and some good news. Starting with the good news, the Steelers won’t have to face their divisional rivals in the backend of this season. Last year, they didn’t play even one of their AFC North rival until week 11. And later, they had to juggle 4 straight games against their divisional rivals. Given this time, their AFC North games are spread out from week 6 to 11, then from week 14 to 18, Rooney is pretty happy with the scheduling.

“I like to have them a little more spread out than what we had last year. I thought last year was a little too much at the end of the season, and so I like the way the division games fall this year a little better,” Rooney said. While this was obviously a fruitful decision for the Steelers, the NFL didn’t show complete mercy. Instead, they used the give-and-take policy on the Steelers as they missed out on a holiday game.

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At one time, the NFL didn’t care much about major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year, which fell during the regular season. But now, Roger Goodell schedules multiple games on these three days to keep fans entertained even during the holiday season. However, this time the Steelers are not part of such games. Considering the Steelers did play the Chiefs on Christmas last season. This decision by the NFL comes as a surprise. Still, Rooney doesn’t seem to have any problem with it.

“I think fans have gotten accustomed to the fact that we play on nights, weekends and holidays, and so any day of the week is fair game nowadays. And our fans have responded. We’ve had games on Christmas as you know, and our fans have turned out. So it doesn’t seem to be a problem,” said Rooney. Seems like as long as the fans stand beside the Steelers, Rooney doesn’t have any issue with this schedule. However, honestly, the schedules ain’t the real concern for the Steelers—because they still have a quarterback-size hole to fill.

Mike Tomlin warned of a difficult outcome, citing the current status of his Steelers

See, the Steelers haven’t had a losing season since 2003. And when Tomlin came to town in 2007, the record remained the same. However, this season could probably alter this two-decade-old record. Why? Because of his stubbornness in selecting a QB. Tomlin is said to be the only one who has pushed the Steelers to wait for Aaron Rodgers. Well, obviously, that decision hasn’t really paid dividends yet. Given that the OTAs are just around the corner. Rodgers’ commitment issues might change the course of the Steelers’ season. Former NFL Coach Jay Gruden didn’t mince his words while criticizing Tomlin’s QB decisions.

“If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t come, and Mason Rudolph isn’t the answer. You’ve lost Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. If Justin Fields performs well with the Jets somehow, there’s going to be some questions about your decision-making at the quarterback spot. They haven’t gotten it right yet,” Gruden mused. Jay, whose only head coaching gig was for the Redskins, send Tomlin a warning. Either prove your critics wrong by working wonders on Will Howard, or lose your authority in the team.

“Will Howard is an interesting pick. Maybe he’s a tough Pittsburgh-type of player. He’s physical. He weights as much as Josh Allen. He’s got that ability to run between the tackles. Maybe they turn to him, and if they see promise late in the year with him as their future quarterback, then yeah, Tomlin will be alright,” Gruden added. But if they don’t, things could get pretty ugly for the Steelers next season. They haven’t had a clear successor to Ben Roethlisberger since he retired. Now with Howard in town, maybe he could be the future that the Steelers haven’t seen for so long.