Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 2018: Prediction, Betting Odds, News For NFL Week 2

The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2 of the 2018 season, hoping things go a lot differently than they did on the year’s first NFL Sunday. The defending AFC North champions couldn’t beat a team that hasn’t won in nearly two years by tying the Cleveland Browns. The Chiefs, on the other hand, couldn’t have asked for a better season opener, winning on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers in a key divisional matchup.

After watching what happened in Week 1, the betting public seems to be high on Kansas City. Pittsburgh opened as a 5.5-point home favorite, but the line has since moved to four points, according to the latest betting odds at OddsShark.

There are certainly plenty of reasons to like the Chiefs. Kansas City ranked fifth on the opening weekend with 38 points, and they did it against a Chargers’ defense that has high expectations. Pat Mahomes passed his first test as the team’s starting quarterback with flying colors, throwing for 256 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and a 127.5 passer rating.

Tyreek Hill caught seven passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns against Los Angeles while also returning a punt 91 yards for a touchdown. He’s one of the NFL’s most dynamic playmakers with 13 career touchdowns of 50-plus yards in his 32-game career. Add in running back Kareem Hunt (led the NFL in rushing last season) and tight end Travis Kelce (leads tight ends in receiving since 2016) and you’ve got the recipe for one of the top offenses in football.

Pittsburgh can score a ton of points, as well, even without Le’Veon Bell—he still hasn’t reported to Pittsburgh—in the backfield. James Conner led all running backs with 135 yards on the ground in Week 1. Antonio Brown is the best wide receiver in football. He’s complemented by JuJu Smith-Schuster, who led the Steelers with 119 receiving yards against Cleveland.

Ben Roethlisberger took most of the blame for Pittsburgh’s inability to score more than 21 points in regulation and overtime. The quarterback turned the ball over five times against the Browns. He was sacked four times and finished with a 60.5 passer rating.

Roethlisberger is banged up after hurting his elbow toward the end of Pittsburgh’s season opener, though it’d be surprising if he didn’t play. He’s also in his 15th season, leading some to believe that the 36-year-old might be on the decline.

The same rumblings began last season when Roethlisberger threw five interceptions against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jacksonville turned out to be the best defense in the AFC, and the quarterback ended the year with 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions over the final 11 games, including the playoffs. The quarterback’s lowest passer rating during that stretch was 87.7 and he reached triple digits in five of the last seven games.

Against this Chiefs’ defense, Roethlisberger should look like the player that’s made four straight Pro Bowls.

Kansas City traded cornerback Marcus Peters in the offseason. All-Pro safety Eric Berry missed the season opener with a heel injury and hasn’t returned to the practice field. The Chiefs allowed more yards than anyone in Week 1, and the Chargers would’ve scored more than 28 points if it wasn’t for a few key drops.

Pittsburgh’s offense is noticeably better at home, where the team has gone 6-2 in each of the last four seasons. Roethlisberger has thrown 75 touchdown passes and 24 interceptions over that span at Heinz Field. The Steelers averaged 29.8 points at home in the regular season and playoffs a season ago, only being held to fewer than 24 points in that game against the Jaguars.

One of the Steelers' best offensive performances of the last few years came when Pittsburgh defeated Kansas City 43-14 at home in 2016. It was the first of three straight wins—one in the playoffs—by the Steelers over the Chiefs in the last two seasons. Pittsburgh is 4-1 against the spread in their last five games against Kansas City, according to OddsShark.

The Chiefs have had no answer for Antonio Brown, allowing him to record 19 receptions for 327 yards and three scores. He should have another big day against a defense that could be the worst that head coach Andy Reid has had since joining Kansas City.

Keeping pace with Pittsburgh Sunday will be difficult, even if the final score surpasses the over/under of 52.5.

Mahomes was very good in his season debut, but his numbers were a little inflated. Two of his touchdown passes were basically glorified handoffs, and the quarterback would’ve completed fewer than 50 percent of his throws if those had been counted as rushing attempts. Hill is very hit or miss, and he finished with fewer than 70 receiving yards in half of Kansas City’s games last season.

The Steelers’ defense essentially only allowed 14 points in 70 minutes last week since one of Cleveland’s scoring drives started at Pittsburgh’s one yard line. The team was fifth in total defense and seventh in points allowed a season ago.

Things won’t be as easy for Mahomes and Kansas City’s offense as they were against Los Angeles, who was without star defensive end Joey Bosa. Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh should show why they are one of the league’s most explosive offenses, resulting in their first win of 2018.

Prediction: Pittsburgh over Kansas City, 35-24