For the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 2017-18 season offered one more chance to completely blow another trip to the Super Bowl. Instead of falling to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, as they usually do, they switched it up and lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars at home. It was truly Mike Tomlin’s finest cheerleading moment.
But a new seasons comes with an all new opportunity for the Steelers to screw up their postseason plans. How many wins will they get before securing the opportunity to hand Mike Vrabel or Vance Joseph their first playoff win? Here are the odds from BetDSI Sportsbook.
Pittsburgh Steelers 2018-19 Regular Season Win Total
Over 10.5 (-114)
Under 10.5 (-116)
Ben Roethlisberger was right when he said picking Mason Rudolph in the third round doesn’t help his team this year. But it shouldn’t have been a secret the team was looking to add a potential franchise quarterback since their current one, Roethlisberger, has hedged on retirement pretty much for the last three seasons.
Still, it was a silly critique since there aren’t many third rounders lighting up teams as rookies anyway. It seems that Roethlisberger was fine talking about retirement. He’s less fine when there’s a guy that might push him into it. Will any of that change Pittsburgh’s record this year? Maybe.
Big Ben wasn’t gonna go to the Pens game tonight, but when they offered his tickets to Mason Rudolph, he committed to all remaining home games for the next 5 years.
— Bill Crawford (@dveBillCrawford) May 7, 2018
Here’s why. Roethlisberger rarely plays a full season. His primary back up, for the last couple of years, has been Landry Jones, a guaranteed garbage fire. Jones getting the start was a guaranteed loss. With a addition of Rudolph this season and Josh Dobbs last year, it’s doubtful that Jones will still have a job in Pittsburgh when the preseason wraps up.
Dobbs, with his brainpower and athleticism, can win some NFL games. Rudolph is a younger, far less experienced version of Reothlisberger, but they could still run the same basic offense as Ben does.
Speaking of offense, the Steelers are breaking in a new coordinator, Randy Fichtner, after booting Todd Haley. Fichtner has spent the last eight years as Roethlisberger’s QB coach, so the basic O should remain the same. It’s just the situational playcalling that’ll be different.
Ben Roethlisberger took to the radio Friday and, man, did he have some thoughts about the Steelers drafting Mason Rudolph https://t.co/uTohnzkRrs
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) May 4, 2018
Now, I don’t have any doubt that Le’Veon Bell will be under contract and suited up this season, but when that happens is anyone’s guess. Will it take a few weeks into the season to get him in the building or is Pittsburgh smart enough to get all this settled before July? Will he just sign his franchise tag again? You have to factor that in.
Looking at the Steelers’ schedule, their opening six games contain a brutal stretch where they play the Kansas City Chiefs, the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons in the span of a month.
They finish up the year with the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints all in a row. If Pittsburgh splits with the Ravens, like they always do, and sweep everyone else there’s a chance they can surpass 10.5. But I see six losses at least on this schedule, so if I was laying down cash, I’d bet the under.
