Are the Steelers favored in their first game of the 2020 season?

After finding out on Thursday who they will be playing in their first game of the 2020 season, are the Pittsburgh Steelers favorites to start the year with a win?

For just the second time since 2003, the Pittsburgh Steelers will begin their season in front of a nationally televised audience on Monday Night Football. It will actually be just the sixth time since the AFL-NFL merger that the Steelers’ Week 1 matchup has taken place on a Monday night.

This season’s opener has Pittsburgh traveling to the Big Apple to take on the New York Giants on September 14. The Giants are coming off a 2019 campaign that only resulted in four wins and the team hasn’t won more than five games in a season since 2016.

This matchup is certainly shaping up to be one of the Steelers’ easier games on their 2020 schedule. Despite New York’s struggles in 2019, however, oddsmakers still don’t think this contest is going to be a cakewalk for Pittsburgh.

Following the release of the 2020 schedule on Thursday, the Action Network updated their odds for the upcoming season and currently, the Steelers are favored by 3.5 points over the Giants.

The fact that the game is being played in New York is obviously a factor in this point spread. If the matchup were taking place in Pittsburgh, the Steelers would likely be favored by at least seven points.

This game will mark the return of Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to the field for the first time since Week 2 of last season. It should be a good opportunity for Roethlisberger to work off some of the rust since he’ll be going up against a Giants defense that is coming off a year in which they gave up the fifth-most passing yards in the NFL.

In addition to the team’s fans, the whole country will get to see if the longtime Steelers quarterback can lead his squad to a win during their first matchup of the 2020 season.