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Dan Orlovsky Offers Dire Early-Season Prediction for AFC North Team

Not what the Steelers want to hear.

Kyle Koster

Dan Orlovsky
Dan Orlovsky / First Take on X
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The full 2025 NFL schedule was revealed on Wednesday night, which provides fans and analysts alike the opportunity to go game-by-game and predict what could possibly happen.

Does it matter that we don't know who will be quarterbacking a team at that point? No. Does it matter that a significant portion of the roster could be sidelined by injury and there's no way to know that? Of course not. If you can't look into the crystal ball and throw some stuff at the wall on schedule release night, when can you?

On ESPN's special coverage NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky offered a rather dire take on what could befall the Pittsburgh Steelers right out the gate.

Given the thought of experiment of Mason Rudolph as the Steelers starting quarterback, Orlovsky looked at the opening stretch of Jets, Seahawks, Patriots, Vikings, Browns and Bengals and struggled to find a win.

"I think you're staring at 0-6 in the face."

Again, there is no need for Pittsburgh fans to panic. Aaron Rodgers could still very much be in play for their quarterback plans. Mike Tomlin has also never started 0-6 because that makes it extremely difficult to reach .500.

Still, not exactly the type of thing they want to hear on a night meant to embrace the possibilities.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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