Steelers open season at Patriots in 1st of 5 prime-time games

The first team to win six Lombardi trophies will be on hand to witness the second franchise raise its record-tying championship banner.

Thanks to the NFL schedule makers, the Steelers will open the 2019 season on Sunday, Sept. 8 in New England when the Patriots celebrate the sixth Lombardi Trophy they earned by defeating the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.

The game at Gillette Stadium will be televised nationally by NBC as part of its “Football Night in America” showcase.

The last time the Steelers opened the season in New England was in 2015 when the Patriots were coming off their fourth championship.

“We had some hints that this could happen, so it wasn’t a surprise,” Steelers president Art Rooney II told the team’s website. “We’ve been there before, we’ve done this before. It’s always a challenge, but we certainly know the scene up there. We’ve played in New England, we’ve played the Patriots a lot over the last few years, and so it’s almost as though they’re becoming a division opponent.”

In the schedule released Wednesday night, the Steelers will play five prime-time games, including two on Monday nights at Heinz Field. The first will be played Sept. 30 against the Cincinnati Bengals and the second will be contested Oct. 28 against the Miami Dolphins.

In addition to the opener in New England, the other prime-time games will be played Oct. 13 at the Los Angeles Chargers and Nov. 14 at the Cleveland Browns, a Thursday game.

“I think it’s a good schedule, particularly in that the night games at home are spread out,” Rooney said. “One interesting thing is that for the first time in a long time that I can remember is we’ll be playing the Cleveland Browns in a prime-time game. It’s kind of different to see that on the schedule.”

The last time the Steelers played in Cleveland on a Thursday night was in December 2009.

The Steelers will have four of their six division games in the second half of the season. That’s a contrast to 2018 when they played just one division game among their final eight.

The longest stretch at home for the Steelers will be three games in midseason: Oct. 28 against Miami, Nov. 3 against Indianapolis and Nov. 10 against the Los Angeles Rams. They play back-to-back road games on three occasions, including the end of the year.

The Steelers close the regular season on Dec. 29 at the Baltimore Ravens. The previous week they will travel to face Le’Veon Bell and the New York Jets on Dec. 22.