{"id":941273,"date":"2026-07-09T23:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T23:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/941273\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T23:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T23:06:16","slug":"espn-analyst-makes-bold-prediction-on-steelers-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/941273\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Analyst Makes Bold Prediction on Steelers’ 2026 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"SteelersPittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy looks on during an OTA practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on May 20, 2026. — Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Kevin Clark of ESPN has major concerns with the Pittsburgh Steelers heading into the 2026 season. Out of all 32 NFL teams, Clark is worried about the Steelers the most. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the Pittsburgh Steelers,\u201d Clark said Thursday on ESPN\u2019s First Take<\/a>. \u201cLast week, we talked about teams where I see the check-engine light\u2026 I am in the body shop \u2014 I\u2019m concerned about the Pittsburgh Steelers. <\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, you look at some of the numbers last year for Aaron Rodgers<\/a>, who is one of the most talented guys who\u2019s ever played the position. Still has a lot of good qualities, but he threw the ball quicker and shorter than basically anybody on record in the history last year. I don\u2019t think that was an Arthur Smith stat. I don\u2019t think that was a receiver stat, even though he has better receivers this year. I think it was an age stat.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at OTAs on May 18, 2026. \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

The Steelers haven\u2019t had a losing season since 2003. Clark wonders if things will go off the rails with Mike Tomlin<\/a> no longer leading the team. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou add in the fact that Mike Tomlin is leaving, and Mike McCarthy<\/a> is not anywhere close to Mike Tomlin as a coach in my book,\u201d Clark said. \u201cYou also add in the fact that the strength of the franchise has been defense for a long time, and that seemed to be trending in the wrong direction last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m just looking at this and if we\u2019re talking about teams that maybe aren\u2019t gonna repeat the success that they had last year, they\u2019re at the top of my list.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Steelers are always at least competitive. They haven\u2019t had a losing season since 2003. While last season ended on a brutal note, getting manhandled by the Houston Texans in the Wild Card game, the Steelers won the AFC North for the first time since 2020.<\/p>\n

The Steelers\u2019 odds to win the AFC North sit at roughly +550<\/a> across major sportsbooks, making them the third-favorites to win the division. The Baltimore Ravens are once again the favorites, followed by the Cincinnati Bengals. The Cleveland Browns are expected to be in the basement of the AFC North again, especially with All-Pro edge rusher Myles Garrett no longer on the team.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Aaron Rodgers<\/a> ESPN<\/a> Kevin Clark<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy looks on during an OTA practice at the UPMC Rooney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,12,7,15710,6,520,57,2360,426,2395],"class_list":["post-941273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-espn","tag-football","tag-kevin-clark","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116892531726092290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}