Steelers near the bottom of the NFL in current Super Bowl odds

Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)

The Pittsburgh Steelers are being written off before the season even starts. Here’s why oddsmakers don’t like their chances of winning the Super Bowl.

We are less than a month before the start of NFL training camps, and NFL fans are gearing up for the 2022 season. As the excitement starts to build following the slowest month of the football calendar year, fans are interested to see their team’s Super Bowl chances for the upcoming season.

As you might have expected, oddsmakers didn’t take very kindly to the Pittsburgh Steelers this summer. After Ben Roethlisberger retired, the Steelers are left with a big question mark at the quarterback position this year. This no doubt impacts the odds.

According to odds from WynnBET, the Pittsburgh Steelers are just +7500 to win the Pro Football Championship following the 2022 season. This currently ranks 22nd in the NFL, just ahead of the Panthers, Bears, Jaguars, and Giants — each with +10000 odds.

Just above the Steelers, the odds jump up pretty significantly, as the Dolphins have +5000 odds to win it all while the Vikings, Raiders, and Cardinals are each tied at +4000.

Though we may not like it, it’s hard to argue that Pittsburgh should be viewed much more highly by oddsmakers at the moment, considering their circumstances.

Steelers Super Bowl chances hinge on QB play

While I’m not naive enough to believe that the Steelers have an elite roster, I do think it’s at least strong enough to compete if the quarterback play is at least average this year. Pittsburgh has the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in T.J. Watt along with some quality cornerstones like Cameron Heyward, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Diontae Johnson, Pat Freiermuth, and Najee Harris.

Additionally, I think their 2022 additions could prove to play some massive roles on the team this year. I thought the Steelers got excellent value in the draft with players like George Pickens, DeMarvin Leal, and Calvin Austin. Meanwhile, free-agent acquisitions like James Daniels, Larry Ogunjobi, Myles Jack, and Levi Wallace could be key in helping this team take the next step.

Sadly, everything ultimately hinges on the quarterback play. Nobody is going to deny that the Steelers don’t have a better roster on paper this year. While they lost an aging Ben Roethlisberger and a declining JuJu Smith-Schuster, all the aforementioned names clearly make up for their minimal losses.

However, it’s not surprising that oddsmakers currently have no confidence in the underwhelming combination of Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett. In a stacked QB conference in the AFC, it’s just really hard to see one of these guys come out on top.

Obviously, the hope is that Pickett can be that guy for this team in the future, but we saw how much the 2021 quarterback class struggled with much more highly-touted prospects like Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and Zach Wilson. It’s probably not wise to expect Pickett to be significantly better than these guys from the gate.

If the Steelers can get some surprisingly good play out of whichever quarterback is at the helm this year, their Super Bowl odds will no doubt skyrocket up the list. As of now, however, having the 22nd-best odds seems pretty fair considering their shaky QB situation.

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