If you read yesterday's installment of "Point/Counterpoint," you probably had co-workers wondering why you were so darn happy all day. That article gave you plenty to smile about, offering up the reasons why the Steelers would build on their impressive 2014 season and make a deep playoff run in 2015.

Today, we break out the frowns.

In the NFL, nothing is guaranteed, and a sure thing can turn into a disaster in a flash. Maybe the Steelers have a solid foundation right now, but one crack, and the whole house can come tumbling down.

Here's why the Steelers won't meet expectations in 2015.

Point No. 1: The difficult schedule

The Steelers' schedule is brutal in 2015. In fact, it's the toughest in the NFL.

Pittsburgh's squad plays nine games against teams that made the playoffs last year, and to make matters worse, they'll have to navigate the first three games of the season without star running back Le'Veon Bell.

The Steelers can play solid football and still drop seven or eight games easily with this schedule. When you're taking on the league's best, one turnover or one missed field goal could be the difference between a loss and a win, and there will likely be plenty of close games in 2015.

In the crowded AFC—where both wild card slots were earned by 10-win teams last year—seven losses (or more) simply won't get the job done.

Point No. 2: The defense isn't still bad...it's worse

What if the cleansing on the defensive side of the ball doesn't work out? What if the rookies and youngsters don't produce?

The Steelers' defensive unit was disappointing last year, but it can still get worse. Despite the fact that many believe last year's D hit rock bottom, that's statistically not the case.

In 2014, the Steelers were ranked 18th in total yardage allowed. They were 27th against the pass and sixth against the run (again, by yardage).

It's not good, but there's a whole lot of room to get even worse, too. Fourteen teams allowed even more total yardage than the Steelers last year, and there is a chance the 2015 squad could fall to those levels.

Imagine this: Keith Butler struggles to unite his troops, he fails to implement effective defensive schemes, and the team is lost on the defensive side of the ball in 2015. Young linebackers Jarvis Jones and Ryan Shazier don't live up to their billing, and they continue to get pushed around and overpowered at the line.

Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor and Brett Keisel are gone, and, while they were getting old anyway, they were still better than the young bucks taking their place. At a minimum, they understood their assignments and provided veteran leadership.

The Steelers defense needs a year to acclimate to all these changes, nothing clicks and a bad thing gets even worse in 2015. The defense will be a total dumpster fire.

Point No. 3: Injury

This is a cop-out response. I'll give you that. It's not creative. There's no evidence to back it up.

You can't predict an injury, but the fact remains that the threat of a star player going down is always present in the NFL. One twist of the knee, and the team dynamic can explode.

Le'Veon Bell was injured at the end of last season, and he's still not 100 percent. What if he never gets back to his mid-2014 self? Even worse, what if he re-aggravates his knee and misses more time?

An injury to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger or wide receiver Antonio Brown could be equally (or more) devastating.

Bruce Gradkowski is a serviceable backup, but do you trust him to lead the team to consecutive victories with this schedule? As mentioned earlier, the AFC is tight, and one loss could be the difference between making and missing the playoffs.

On the defensive side, the team cannot afford Cameron Heyward or Stephon Tuitt to go down. The depth on the defensive line is atrocious, and if one of those two players goes down, the entire defense will suffer against both the run and the pass.

Cut out any of the key players for a crucial game, and a season-ending defeat could follow. An injury could devastate the team in 2015.

Final Conclusion:

Just as there were reasons why the Steelers would improve in 2015, there are reasons why they'll regress. The 2014 season was a pleasant surprise to most fans, as the Steelers surpassed expectations and won the AFC North.

Was that treat a fluke?

I don't think so.

When determining whether the Steelers will perform better or worse in 2015, there are a handful of points to take into consideration, but I think the offense remains equally strong (or stronger) and the defense makes some slight improvements.

Looking at this "Point/Counterpoint" series, the reasons the Steelers will fail in 2015 seem more far-fetched and unlikely than the reasons they'll succeed. There are a lot of "ifs" and "maybes" in this second installment, and it's not reasonable that they'd all come true.

The schedule is tough, but, as one writer discovered, the 2008 Steelers team overcame the toughest schedule of any Super-Bowl-winning team in the sport's history. The Steelers also have a knack for playing down to inferior opponents, so in some bizarre way, maybe playing better teams will bring out the best in them in 2015.

The Steelers will be a better team in 2015 in that if they could somehow play their 2014 selves, they'd win.

The squad, by Madden ratings, will be better overall.

...But they'll win fewer games.

The Steelers out-kicked their coverage last year when they went 11-5, and they'll take a slight step backward to 10-6 in 2015. With Bell out, they'll drop at least one of those first three games, and they'll split all of their divisional series. Right there we have four or five losses, and there are still seven tough games to consider.

I, however, measure team success with Super Bowl rings and deep playoff runs, so, while the Steelers will win one fewer game in 2014, that won't matter when they snag a wild card slot and advance to the divisional round.

Barring a miraculous turnaround on defense, I think a Super Bowl is still just out of reach, but the offensive firepower and the slightly improved pass rush and secondary will be enough to carry the 2015 Steelers team deeper into the playoffs.