As we write this, we don't know exactly how the NFL schedule is going to play out across the league's landscape, and we don't know exactly what rosters are going to look like.

But ESPN seems to know one thing.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, per ESPN's projections for the 2024 NFL season, are not going to make the playoffs.

That, of course, isn't the vibe in Pittsburgh, where playoff contention is an annual given under long-time head coach Mike Tomlin. 

And so we have to ask: Why does ESPN hate the Steelers?

They don't, really, we suppose. They're using sharp pencils and big calculators to come to the conclusion that while the Steelers boast an elite defense - projected to be a top-four unit in 2024 - the offense under new QB Russell Wilson will be the downfall.

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How "down''? The ESPN guess is that the Steelers will be the only AFC North team to fail to make the postseason and will end up an 8-9 record because the offense will manage to only be ranked at 27th-best in the NFL.

There is also the "strength of schedule'' factor here, as the Steelers are being billed as having "the third-hardest schedule in football.'' Of course, we really don't know that, either ... and put it all together and it's hard for Steelers fans, we're sure, to envision the first losing season of the Mike Tomlin era.