As they began to envision where they eventually might be headed, starting Sunday against the New York Jets, the Steelers remained mindful of where they've been.
"You look at every experience," offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said.
Added defensive coordinator Teryl Austin: "Like always, you go back and look at what you did last year, what was good, what was bad."
For the Steelers, last season was a tale of two seasons, 10 wins in their first 13 games and then a season-ending, five-game losing streak, including a 28-14 loss to the Ravens in an AFC Wild Card Game on Jan. 11 in Baltimore.
They've moved past all that, choosing not to, as head coach Mike Tomlin likes to say, "tote baggage."
But they've also found perspective in all that transpired last season as the opening of this season beckons.
Perspective that can be applied, perhaps, to what's waiting ahead over the Lon g haul along the way to a more rewarding finish.
"You don't pound your chest if things are going well," Smith observed. "The longer you've been around, you understand, you understand the history and the perspective of, if you're gonna go on a run, you gotta be playing your best football at the end of the year. That holds up every year. You gotta improve.
"Obviously we were rolling (in 2024). We stumbled and we never got out of that funk. There's multiple reasons. You just look at yourself first. There's a lot of fantastical narratives that are not true. But I think the best thing you can do as a coach or, if you're in any leadership role, you gotta look at yourself. It's not blaming guys that aren't here, that's the easy thing. You see that around the league, new coaches, new players, everybody's on a honeymoon right now.
"We gotta improve. There's gonna be adversity at some point this year. I don't care if you're rolling, you start out hot. At some point you're gonna stumble, and that's when you're gonna find out. And you've gotta see around corners."
The offense was able to score 27 points last Dec. 8 in a win over Cleveland that upped the Steelers' record to 10-3. The previous week they'd scored 44 in a win in Cincinnati.
The Steelers never scored more than 17 points in a game over their last five games.
And a defense that had been tough to run against gradually became susceptible in the ground game.
"We'll probably try to change some of the things we were doing to keep our guys fresh and keep them ready to go for the entirety of the season," Austin said.
Plenty of other changes have been made. High-profile additions to the roster include quarterback Aaron Rodgers and cornerback/slot cornerback/safety Jalen Ramsey, among others. Schematic tweaks and alterations have been made on both side of the ball.
The Steelers' offseason makeover has generated an optimism that's palpable, and in Austin's case, standard.
"I'm always optimistic," he insisted. "We put in a lot of work in the offseason and leading up to this. Our guys have been working hard, I like the attitude. I know we have talent. I feel good going into the season. We'll see how it plays out, maybe next year I'll have a different story for you at the end.
"But like always, man, you start the season and your goal is to be a champion. If you're thinking of anything less than that or less optimistic, I don't know, we just hope to get over the hump or hope to make it to this; no, man. You start it every year and your goal is to win a championship. If you come in any less than that you're selling yourself short, selling your players short."
