The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a 16-16 tie against the Detroit Lions last week in a game where they didn’t have starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the weather wasn’t exactly perfect either with plenty of rain and chilly temperatures.
This week, the Steelers will get an extra seven hours to get Big Ben back in action, as he sat out last week after testing positive for COVID-19.
Even though it seems like Pittsburgh has had an ugly season, the Steelers are 5-3-1 and enter Week 11 with a better record than their Sunday Night Football opponent, the Los Angeles Chargers, who are 5-4.
The Chargers have lost three of their last four games and have now allowed more points than they have scored on the year.
With Roethlisberger possibly in line to return, can the Steelers knock off the Chargers on Sunday night?
All NFL gameday odds and lines current as of 1:00 p.m. ET on Friday, November 19.
Sunday Night Football Prediction Week 11
It’s not going to be easy for Pittsburgh this week.
While Ben Roethlisberger is preparing to return, other players, such as Minkah Fitzpatrick, have now tested positive for COVID-19. There’s a good chance Fitzpatrick won’t be the only one out and there’s no official word on Roethlisberger even playing in this game.
The Steelers backups, led by quarterback Mason Rudolph, couldn’t find a way to beat a winless Lions team at home with their fans screaming in the cold, wet conditions. Fans even stayed through overtime and couldn’t help Pittsburgh break the tie.
So with the Steelers going on the road to take on the Chargers, it’s hard to back the Steelers at this point with everything that is going on.
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The Steelers, like the Chargers, have allowed more points than they’ve scored this season, yet both have winning records.
The Steelers usually have a solid rushing defense, but that defense allowed Detroit to run all over them as the Lions racked up 242 rushing yards on Sunday. The pass rush has also done well for Pittsburgh, but the main cause for that was T.J. Watt, who left last week’s game with a hip injury and will not suit up on Sunday night.
At this point, the Steelers are kind of getting a bit unlucky, but that’s football for ya.
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On the other hand, the Chargers have not played their best football of late. At the start of the year, Los Angeles looked like the real deal. Now at 5-4, not so much.
Still, Justin Herbert has thrown for just over 2,500 yards and 19 touchdowns on the season. He’s got great playmakers around him like Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Austin Ekeler, to name a few.
However, the rushing defense for the Chargers has been awful, as they’ve allowed a league-worst 155.1 yards per game. Now there’s a reason for Pittsburgh to run the football, especially if Roethlisberger doesn’t play in this game.
Ultimately, I expect the Chargers to come out on top in this one, especially with all of the uncertainty surrounding the Steelers.
SNF Week 11 Pick: Chargers 27, Steelers 10
Steelers running back Najee Harris could be asked to carry the load for Pittsburgh in Week 11 against the Los Angeles Chargers. (Image: USA TODAY Sports)
Sunday Night Football Best Bets Week 11
SNF Best Bet: Chargers -6 (-110) at Caesars
The Steelers are just unlucky right now. Three key players could be out for this game and they’ve already lost some big time players like Juju Smith-Schuster to injury earlier this year.
This is a true get right spot for Justin Herbert and a chance for him to showcase his talent on a national stage once again. The Steelers still have a good defense, but without Fitzpatrick and Watt anchoring the unit, there’s reason to believe the Chargers can have success, especially in the passing game.
I’ll hop on the Chargers in this one and think this line has value up to -6.5, making Los Angeles our NFL bet of the day.
SNF Best Bet: Under 47 Total Points (-110) at Caesars
Up until this point, the Chargers’ defense has been pretty bad, but any NFL defense can get stops against this Pittsburgh offense. You might see a couple big runs from the Steelers with Najee Harris, but the Chargers’ pass rush should be the difference in this game, especially when Pittsburgh is trailing and forced to throw.
On the other hand, the Chargers could score a bunch of points and still keep this game under. If the Steelers are without Ben Roethlisberger, look for Pittsburgh to try to limit possessions and put together long drives to keep Justin Herbert and the Chargers’ offense off the field.
This game has under written all over it.
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