The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2026 schedule has officially been released. While the team has known its opponents for a few months, now, the order and time for those games have been announced. It doesn’t look too bad at first glance, outside of some different circumstances, like the game in Paris and the Black Friday game. Cam Heyward broke down the Steelers’ schedule after it dropped, outlining what games stood out to him most.
“The games I look at when I first get into it, Week 3 and Week 4,” Heyward said recently on his Not Just Football podcast. “We play the Bengals at home, and then, at night we have the Browns on a Thursday night game.
“Those games are just so critical. I think you need to have the best product, and I don’t think you always get that on a Thursday night game. I think we’ve played the Browns on Thursday night a lot. But we need to go up there and get a win.”
Those are the Steelers’ first two divisional matchups of the year, so it’s not surprising that they drew Heyward’s eyes first. Every team wants to win their division, which makes those rivalry battles even more important.
That becomes especially true when they’re back-to-back, and when one of them is on a short week. While the Cleveland Browns look like they’re rebuilding again, they still shouldn’t be underestimated. Playing any team on a short week can be tough.
Also, the Steelers haven’t been great in Cleveland recently. They’ve lost their last four games there, including a Thursday night game in 2024. The Steelers were coming off a hard-fought division win, and they were beat up going to Cleveland. The Browns took advantage of that, and now, history could repeat itself.
That isn’t Heyward’s only issue with the schedule, though. He doesn’t love when the Steelers’ other game against Cleveland is set for, either.
“Both Browns games are jam-packed. You’re like, damn, they couldn’t spread those out just a little bit? Even just flip those two games, I think, would be a better thought process.”
The Steelers’ other matchup against the Browns will come in Week 8, right after they travel to France to face the New Orleans Saints. While they’ll get a full week of rest, the travel involved there still makes things tricky.
Still, Heyward didn’t dislike everything about his team’s schedule. The placement of Pittsburgh’s bye week, in particular, made him happy.
“I think Week 9 is a sweet spot. It’s not Week 4.”
Heyward wasn’t afraid to vocalize his displeasure with the Steelers’ Week 5 bye week last year. That was a byproduct of their Week 4 game in Ireland. While they have another international game this year, their bye comes two weeks later. It might’ve been nice to have it in Week 8 instead, but Heyward doesn’t seem too upset about his break coming around midseason.
It’s too early to look too far ahead, though. The Steelers will have to focus on winning their Week 1 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons first. There’s no telling what their team will look like come the middle of the season. They need to figure out their quarterback situation, too.
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