Experts unanimously taking Steelers over Bengals in Week 15

The Steelers are massive favorites over the Bengals this week. Here’s why all experts are taking Pittsburgh to win on the road in Week 15.

The Steelers can clinch the AFC North with a win this week against the Cincinnati Bengals. But somehow, there isn’t a lot of hype for Pittsburgh in their Week 15 matchup. Perhaps that has something to do with them playing one of the worst teams in the league without their number one overall pick and future quarterback.

Even with their recent struggles, Mike Tomlin’s team opened the week as 12.5-point favorites, courtesy of The Action Network. This was hardly surprising. While the Steelers have scored just 14.6 offensive points per contest over their last three games, the Bengals have managed a dismal 10.3 points per game over that span.

When it came time for experts to choose their winner this week, it was a unanimous decision in favor of Pittsburgh. According to NFL Pickwatch, 100 percent of experts are on board with a Steelers road win on Monday Night Football. So is there any chance the Bengals could surprise us with a win this week?

Steelers are heavy favorites for a reason

The short answer is no. I would be floored if Cincinnati ended up winning this game – considering Pittsburgh’s offensive struggles and all. The Bengals have arguably been the worst team in the league since Joe Burrow went down with a season-ending ACL injury, and they have had only one game within 10 points in their last five contests – all of which were losses.

The Steelers, on the other hand, know that they have something to prove, and they will be exploring ways to make the offense better as the playoffs rapidly approach. Obviously, if their offense continues to play the way it has been in recent weeks, there’s no reason to expect Pittsburgh to make it past the first round of the playoffs.

Unfortunately, this game probably isn’t going to tell us a whole lot about this team. I fully expect Ben Roethlisberger to have a bounce-back performance in Week 15 against a very vulnerable Cincinnati defense. But is it really going to show us anything?

The following week against the Colts will be a much better test for the Steelers. Indianapolis has had one of the better defenses in the league all year long, as they’ve allowed just 23.1 points per game (12th) to go with surrendering just 327.1 yards per contest (6th), according to Team Rankings. If Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh’s offense can thrive next week, that will give us much more hope than putting a beating on a bad Bengals team.

At the end of the day, the Steelers still need this win to seal the division, and they certainly wouldn’t want to be forced to win against both the Colts and Browns to close out the season in order for that the happen. Defeating the Bengals should be a given this week, it’s just a matter of how easily they can do so.