Let's take a look at the Steelers 2009 schedule.

First off, the AFC North is slated to play the AFC West and NFC North this year.  They get a reasonably easy draw because the AFC West is definitely a down division.  The NFC North is respectable, Detroit notwithstanding.  Since the Steelers won their division in 2008, they also play the 2008 divison winners in the AFC East and South, meaning they get the Dolphins and Titans respectively.

As usual, the NFL likes to kick off its schedule with a prime-time special game.  In what will be a highly anticipated game, the Steelers play host to the Tennessee Titans in their season opener.  This ought to be an interesting game for both teams, as obviously both are going to want to start hot and stay that way, and so this represents a major game for both teams.  No one really likes to start with an "A Grade" game but it is what it is.

Overall, the schedule is pretty fair to Pittsburgh.  They have no West Coast trips this year - they host both San Diego and Oakland this year, and travel to Denver and KC.  Their bye week is mid-season - a double-edged sword (too late in case of injury but coming at a perfect time perhaps for early-season injuries??).  What's perhaps the most interesting element of their schedule is how the two Baltimore games are slated to be late-season games.  The NFL certainly has set its sights on playing up those two collasal games in their late-season schedule - theoretically forging even more interest in them assuming both teams have seasons as they hope.

If there's something to complain about, it's that the Steelers play 5 out of their final 9 games away from home.  Those trips include a MNF game at Denver, back-to-back road games at Kansas City then Baltimore, a Thursday night game in Cleveland and finally, a season-finale in Miami.  The Thursday nighter comes after a home game against Oakland - so in looking at the schedule one cannot really complain that the NFL hurt Pittsburgh by making the game before the TNF one a nasty battle.  Oakland games are usually entertaining, but unless the Raiders pull off a highly surprising season, this precursor to a TNF battle won't get a lot of attention.

I tend to grade games A through C - an A game meaning that it will get league-wide attention either because it pits two very, very good teams, or because there's some other element to it.  Pittsburgh has 4 "A" games this year - the season/home opener against Tennessee, the SNF game hosting the Chargers, and the two November/December Baltimore games.  By the way, Pit/Bal is always an "A" game in my opinion because of the bad blood/rivalry aspect to those games.  In my opinion, the Steelers have 5 "B" games.  Trips to Chicago, Denver and Miami, and home games against Minnesota and Green Bay make this list.  They are games that should be pretty competitive because the opposition is better.  That leaves our "C" games which are interesting only to the local teams playing the games - unless something unexpected happens.  I've ranked the four games against Cincy and Cleveland as "C" games because it doesn't seem at face value that either Cincy or Cleveland will be all that great this year.  The Cincy games, however, have the possibility of being upgraded assuming that the Bengals are the Bengals and not the Bungles.  One can only watch the season, however, before making that determination.  The other "C" games include the trip to Detroit, the trip to Kansas City and the home game against Oakland.

This is a far cry from last year's schedule, which was loaded with "A" games because of the nature of playing the NFC East and the AFC South.

Anyway, in my opinion the Steelers have a fair schedule.  It's not entirely their fault that the divisions they play this year are not considered very "sexy" by NFL people.  Sure, the NFC North will be competitive, and have good storylines, but is the NFC North the center of the football universe this year?  Not by a long-shot - and the AFC West will get some consideration for the NFL's worst division because of Oakland, rebuilding KC, and Denver's internal implosions.