San Diego Chargers at Pittsburgh Steelers Odds
Perhaps the San Diego Chargers, which finished the regular season at 8-8, are a team of destiny. San Diego avenged an earlier season loss to the Indianapolis Colts to eliminate them from the playoffs last Saturday and to move into the divisional round. If the Chargers want to reach the AFC title game for a second straight year, they’ll have to get pas another team which defeated them during the regular season. San Diego lost 11-10 at Heinz Field back in November. While the Chargers have been playing with nothing to lose for quite some time after getting off to a 4-8 start, NFL odds makers feel their time is up and have listed the Pittsburgh Steelers as 6-point favorites with the total set at 37.5.
Doing your NFL betting on the Chargers has likely gotten backers in trouble this season. Coming in as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl, money line players took a beating early and likely didn’t stick around to see how things would turn out. The Chargers have come around, covering the spread in four of their last five games and are above .500 for the first time all season.
If the Chargers are going to have a chance at beating the Steelers this Sunday, they’ll likely have to score more than the 10 points they scored in the prior meetings. Much of that falls on QB Philip Rivers. Rivers was good enough against the Colts last week, but not great. He was 20 of 36 for 217 yards with no touchdown passes. He’ll have to be better against a superior Steelers defense.
It’s been a tough season for the Chargers running game as L.T. has been bugged by injuries throughout. He tried to lace ‘em up last week, but he only managed five carries before not being able to return to the game. Luckily for San Diego, backup Darren Sproles was ready for the spotlight. Sproles scooted for 105 yards and two scores.
While the San Diego defense held the Steelers to only 11 points in the earlier meeting, defense has been the problem for this team throughout. But they should be able to gain some confidence from playing Peyton Manning and the Colts very well last Saturday. The Chargers brought pressure all day and held Manning to only one touchdown pass. San Diego was solid against the run last week, holding Joseph Addai and the Colts running attack to just 64 yards on the ground, though Indy didn’t appear too interested in running.
Making your NFL picks on the Steelers has been a profitable betting strategy this season. Pittsburgh is 12-4 straight up and 9-7 against the number heading into this one. The Steelers are 6-2 at home and will have home field to its advantage in this one. Pittsburgh is 8-3 straight up and against the spread in the last 11 meetings in this series and 5-1 straight up and 4-2 against the spread at home during that span.
While the Chargers have had their issues with defense, Pittsburgh has had its with offense. The Steelers scored fewer than 20 points six times and did so in two of their final three games of the regular season. Injuries plagued QB Ben Roethlisberger throughout the year and his numbers sufference because of it. Big Ben threw just 17 touchdown passes and had nearly as many picks (15). The offensive line figured to be a problem area heading in and it was. Big Ben was sacked 46 times to prove it. Despite a down season, he was still great when it mattered the most, engineering five game winning touchdown drives.
The line has really taken its toll on what was a great running attack last season. This year the Steelers rank 23rd in the NFL, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. Injuries to Pro Bowler Willie Parker and rookie Rashard Mendehall also contributed to a tough year on the ground for Pittsburgh.
The defense has picked up the slack all season long and that’s what Pittsburgh will depend on to get them to the Super Bowl. The Steelers were the No. 1 overall defense in the NFL this season and also finished No. 1 against the pass. Pittsburgh wasn’t too shabby against the run either, finishing just 54 yards short of also being the No. 1 ranked run unit. They only allowed 3.29 yards per carry though, and that was tops in the league. It looks like it’s going to be a challenge for the Chargers to score in Heinz Field again.
