The Steelers head into their week seven matchup coming off a bye week that should refresh their batteries. That should help them in their upcoming game, but it is not going to be an easy task. They will hit the road to take on the Rams in California, which is always a bad matchup under Mike Tomlin. It is going to be a challenge for Pittsburgh to win this game.
The black and gold's offense has been horrendous this season and there seems to be no fix in sight. Aaron Donald will ragdoll Mason Cole this week and that is going to cause Kenny Pickett to make a couple of mistakes. The Steelers need to establish the run early to try and open up the play action. Pickett is good when he can run play-action passes and that comes from a run threat.
Pittsburgh's defense is going to have its own issues to deal with as they do not match up well against LA. They will struggle to cover either Cooper Kupp or Puka Nacua this week. The Steelers' secondary has been terrible with Patrick Peterson and Levi Wallace thus far. Maybe Joey Porter Jr. can work some magic, but they might need more help than that.
CBS Sports has the Rams coming out of this game with a close win
CBS Sports prediction: Rams 23, Steelers 20
Matt Canada seems to be the main issue behind CBS Sports' prediction that the Rams will overcome the Steelers. The offense of Pittsburgh has been terrible for the past three years since Canada took over as offensive coordinator. Many follow Mike Tomlin blindly, but he is to blame for Canada and this offense being atrocious.
CBS Sports can't see a change happening where the Steelers' offense magically gets fixed on a random week this season. Add those issues with trying to cover Kupp and Nacua, and the black and gold could be in a world of hurt this week. So many different issues that are stacking up against the Steelers this week to look past, and that results in the Rams being favored.