Pittsburgh Steelers 2007 NFL Projection:
Mike Tomlin takes over as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team coming off a disappointing and erratic season as a follow up to a dramatic championship run. Before looking ahead to 2007, we feel some hindsight is warranted.

Ben Roethlisberger's poor play in his first three games of 2006 was understandable given his motorcycle accident, not to mention facing two dynamite defenses in the Jaguars and Chargers on the road.

Pardon granted.

Roethlisberger's poor play against the lights out defense of the Baltimore Ravens on two occasions last season, one in late November, and one in late December were also understandable. After all, the Ravens only surrendered 201 points in 2006, and not many QB's performed well against the unit.

We can pardon that too.

So where does that leave us?

One very embarrassing loss at Oakland.

Okay, no pardon there.

Overall Big Ben and the Steelers ran into some brick wall defenses, with Roethlisberger coming off an accident on several of those counts.

We think Big Ben and the Steelers will rebound in 2007...

Pittsburgh's schedule lines up nice and easy to open the season. In fact, Pittsburgh won't face its first formidable defense until week 7 at Denver which is after the bye week. Note, we're not counting Buffalo (week 2) as a formidable defense due to the loss of several key players.

Considering the Steelers finished 2006 on a (6-2) run, only thwarted by the Ravens, we see a good chance to start, (4-0), (5-0), maybe even (6-0).

However, the second two thirds of the season lines up much tougher for the Steelers. It's a real Jekyll and Hyde schedule with games against tough defenses including; the Jaguars, Patriots, Jets, Dolphins, and Ravens (twice).

That translates to six games overall versus teams that surrendered under 300 points last season. And there were only six such teams in the NFL last season! The only one of which the Steelers won't face in 2007 from the list is Chicago.

Therefore, Roethlisberger and the Steelers' offense will have their work cut out for them overall in 2007. But they should have time early in the season to get on a roll before the schedule turns Hyde. And even though the schedule is tough, Roethlisberger has shown many flashes of brilliance in his young NFL career. And we think with a fresh start he can reclaim his form in 2007, possibly leading the Steelers to a playoff berth.

Overall, we're predicting what many would consider a generous record of (11-5) for the Steelers in 2007. This prediction assumes splits with the Ravens and Bengals, as well as a win at home over Jacksonville. Additionally the Steelers will probably have to win in either St. Louis or Denver to reach this level. It's a lot to ask of a team coning off an (8-8) season with a new head coach on board. But the Steelers defense is still solid (even with the loss of Porter), and Roethlisberger certainly has done it before... However, with such a tough schedule, just one or two slip ups is all it could take to keep the Steelers out of the playoffs in 2007.

See week by week, straight up, free NFL predictions for the 2007 Pittsburgh Steelers below.

NFL Predictions:
In the grid below are FootballLOCKS.com's preseason made straight up, non point spread NFL projections for the 2007 Pittsburgh Steelers, displayed as predictions of which games are likely to be won and lost. Note these are preseason NFL predictions made before the regular season.