Now that you’ve seen our staff’s predictions for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2026 season, it’s time to take inventory of what the national media thinks. Below is a list of predictions from pundits. Some think the Steelers will stink up the season. Others are more optimistic. We’ll see who is right in the end.

Losing Season/No Playoffs

Douglas Clawson/CBS Sports: Clawson predicts Pittsburgh will finish in the AFC North’s basement in fourth place behind the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers have never finished last in the AFC North since its creation in 2002 and haven’t finished last in their division since 1988.

Nick Wright/Fox Sports: Wright has a negative outlook on the Steelers, believing they will finish 6-11 and third in the AFC North.

Connor Orr/Sports Illustrated: Orr has a similar take as Wright with a 6-11 outcome in Mike McCarthy’s first year.

Nate Davis/USA Today: A 7-10 prediction. It marks a sharp contrast to a year ago when he predicted Pittsburgh would finish 11-6 and win a playoff game.

Chris Broussard/Fox Sports: Broussard didn’t offer a specific record but said the Steelers will finish third place and have a losing season. It’d be the team’s first since 2003.

Colin Cowherd/Fox Sports: Cowherd has the Baltimore Ravens winning the division with the Cincinnati Bengals taking a Wild Card spot. No playoffs for Pittsburgh.

Pro Football Talk: The entire PFT team of Josh Alper, Michael David Smith, Myles Simmons, Charean Williams, and Mike Florio has the Steelers missing the playoffs. The group only offered the playoff seeds, so we don’t know what record they’re assigning the Steelers, but it clearly isn’t good enough to make the dance.

ESPN Computer Simulation: ESPN’s supercomputer has Pittsburgh finishing a disappointing 8-9.

Pete Prisco/CBS Sports: Prisco’s playoff bracket left Pittsburgh on the outside. Prisco has the Bengals as the No. 2 seed with the Ravens the No. 6 seed.

Ross Tucker: 9-8 and no playoffs. He believes the team could even be worse than this year after three straight 10-7 seasons. He gave the edge to Baltimore and Cincinnati ahead of Pittsburgh in-division.

Ty Dunne: No playoffs here with Baltimore claiming the AFC North. Of the Go Long group, only Jim Monos has the Steelers in the postseason, losing as the No. 7 seed.

Chris Long: Long didn’t offer a Steelers’ record prediction but has them out of the AFC playoff picture. With 12 wins, he has the Cincinnati Bengals winning the division with the Baltimore Ravens finishing second in a Wild Card spot. The Los Angeles Chargers and New England Patriots also snag Wild Card spots.

On The Bubble

Rich Eisen: Eisen believes the Steelers will win 10 games this year. It’s still a third-place finish, but the highest win total of the lot. He was a little muddled on whether Pittsburgh would make the postseason.

Postseason Appearance

John Breech/CBS Sports: Breech picked Pittsburgh to finish 9-8 but do enough to capture the No. 7 seed. He has the Steelers losing to the Ravens in the Wild Card.

Adam Schein: Schein is higher on Pittsburgh than most, believing Rodgers and McCarthy will make “sweet, beautiful music” this season while touting offensive additions Michael Pittman Jr. and Rico Dowdle.

Schein projects an 11-win season, a Wild Card spot, and a postseason victory.

Final Thoughts

Last year, only one national analyst we noted hit the nail on the head. Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams was the lone pundit on our long list to predict Pittsburgh would win the AFC North but lose in the first round. She had Pittsburgh falling to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round, not the Houston Texans, but she was spot on overall. We’ll see if she can repeat that clairvoyance this year.

Of last season’s group, 45 percent of them picked Pittsburgh to make the playoffs. This year, just two of the 19 clearly are (with Eisen on the bubble). Compare that with our staff predictions that with 62.5 percent (15 of 24) predicting a playoff appearance and 37.5 percent (9 of 24) predicting at least one postseason victory. Nationally, there’s much more pessimism this year than last year.