The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be one of the more intriguing teams to keep an eye on during the 2023 NFL season. After going into a small rebuild, many believe that the team is ready to take a big jump. Most of their hopes to take a big step forward will rely on the arm of young quarterback Kenny Pickett.

Mike Tomlin is still one of the best head coaches in the NFL and will always get the most out of his team. It will take his coaching skills and ability to develop players to get them back into contention in the AFC.

While the roster looks much better this year than it did last year, there is one NFL analyst who has wild aspirations for the Steelers.

Fox Sports NFL analyst Jason McIntyre dropped five bold predictions for the upcoming season. He has the Steelers making a run to the AFC Championship Game this year.

“BOLD PREDICTION NO. 5: The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to the AFC Championship Game. Kenny Pickett, during the final seven games [last season], was a top 11 quarterback in the league. That guy was a rookie. Kenny Pickett is mature. He looked sharp at the end of the season. The defense will be back and be really good. I’ve already bet them in Week 1. This Steelers team is a buy.”

Wow. That’s a lot to take in for a team that didn’t even make the playoffs last season. Their goal should be to get into the postseason, but making a run to the conference championship is one of the boldest takes that anyone could make.

Granted, there is no question that Pickett has the talent to be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. He has already shown a good portion of that talent. If he takes the next step, the Steelers’ offense is going to be vastly improved.

Can the Steelers get to the AFC Championship Game? Absolutely, they could, but they will have to go through teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Cincinnati Bengals.

From our perspective, this is a very unlikely scenario. However, you can simply never say never when it comes to the NFL.