Facing the Pittsburgh Steelers heading into the 2024 season was the toughest strength of schedule of all 32 teams in the NFL. Two things immediately stood out when the league released the slate of games in May: 1) The first half of games before the Week 9 bye appeared to be full of perceived beatable opponents, none of which included any AFC North rivals; 2) No thanks to the schedule being backloaded (perhaps for "Hard Knocks"?) with not only the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs but all six division matchups, the second half was going to be a nightmare.

Midway through the season, Pittsburgh's strength of schedule has barely budged. According to Sharp Football Analysis, the Steelers now have the 2nd toughest path to the postseason, down one spot from May. This is likely because the AFC North, namely the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, aren't as good as anticipated.

Here's Steelers Wire's ranking of the seven most important games remaining on Pittsburgh's regular season schedule:

1. Week 16 @ Baltimore Ravens

2. Week 11 vs. Baltimore Ravens

3. Week 12 @ Cleveland Browns

4. Week 13 @ Cincinnati Bengals

5. Week 14 vs. Cleveland Browns

6. Week 18 vs. Cincinnati Bengals

7. Week 17 vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Christmas Day)

This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Ranking the 7 most important games left for Steelers this season