Madden Monday: While predicting Steelers' season, don't overlook other teams' strengths

Before you make a bet on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season-win total, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLIVE has some advice.

First of all, even if the Steelers look much improved from last year — and they do — that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have a huge jump in the win column.

“They’ve had a good preseason. But, by the same token, I thought they were lucky to go 9-8 last year. I don’t feel like they played to the caliber of a team that should have a winning record. So this year, I think they could perform and execute considerably better, but still not necessarily win many more games,” Madden said during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast.

That’s a theory that I’ve been advancing for months, while predicting they’d go 10-7. For a while, people seemed to buy into it. But, with all the preseason hype for the organization cresting in recent weeks, that doesn’t seem to be an optimistic enough spin for Pittsburghers anymore.

“Only in Pittsburgh, after a team hasn’t won a playoff game for six years, could you predict 9-8, borderline playoff, quarterback improves, and be labeled a hater,” Madden added.

Madden also cautions folks from looking at the Steelers’ weak strength of schedule (25th in the NFL, .470) as something to rely on as a basis to assume 11-12 wins on the season.

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“You never know how these teams are going to be until you see them,” Madden said. “I don’t think Las Vegas is going to be a pushover in Week 3, for example. They might have one of the best wide receiver rooms in football (Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers and Hunter Renfrow), and Jimmy Garoppolo knows how to win. Which seems to be (Kenny) Pickett’s biggest intangible, right? He knows how to win. Well, why can’t other guys know how to win? Is he the only guy who knows how to win? Because if he is, I think he should win more.”

Madden says Steelers fans need to be careful of falling into those double-standard traps when it comes to evaluating the local club as they prepare for Sunday’s regular-season opener against the San Francisco 49ers.

“Does (San Francisco QB) Brock Purdy not know how to win? We assign intangible value to our home-team players, and never acknowledge it in others,” Madden asserted. “With Jimmy Garoppolo, we want to be cold-hearted and statistically driven. With Kenny Pickett, we want to just talk about how much moxie he has.”

Also in the podcast, Madden and I discuss what a potential AFC playoff bracket may look like, the changes made to the Penguins broadcast team and the state of the Pirates heading into the squad’s last full month of play.