Sunday Night Football Week 8: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Detroit Lions Prediction, Odds

On the surface, the “Sunday Night Football” game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions appears to be one of the best matchups of Week 8. Both teams made the postseason a year ago and they are in the thick of the 2017 playoff race.

During a season that’s featured some bad quarterback play, Sunday’s game has two of the league’s best. Ben Roethlisberger is a two-time Super Bowl winner, and Matthew Stafford is arguably one of the NFL’s 10 best signal callers.

Sure, Pittsburgh is the better team with two more wins and a lead in their division, but Detroit is at home. The Lions are only 2.5-point underdogs, per the betting odds at OddsShark.

A closer look at the numbers, however, indicates that Sunday’s game might not be very close when all is said and done.

Pittsburgh is a bonafide Super Bowl contender, and possibly the best team in football. Detroit isn’t winning a championship this season, and that could soon be reflected in their record.

The Steelers were predicted to have one of the league’s most explosive offenses in 2017. That hasn’t been the case through seven weeks, but their defense has been about as good as any unit in the league.

No team has allowed fewer yards per play than Pittsburgh. They rank first in pass defense, holding opposing quarterbacks to a 70.9 passer rating and ranking second with 24 sacks.

Running the ball on the Steelers hasn’t been as difficult, though most of that can be chalked up to a bad performance against the Chicago Bears’ two-headed monster of Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen. In the other six games, the Steelers are giving up just 92.3 yards per game on the ground, which would be good for sixth overall on the season. Kareem Hunt, the NFL’s No.1 rusher, ran for just 21 yards on nine carries in a loss to Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh won’t have to worry much about Detroit’s rushing attack, considering the team is 26th in rushing and averages just 3.5 yards per carry. After starting the year with wins over two teams that are currently under .500, the Lions have 284 rushing yards on 3.38 yards per attempt.

While he hasn’t had a ton of help, Stafford hasn’t played his best football this season. He’s 27th in completion percentage and 26th in yards per attempt.

Those numbers, along with a running game that hasn’t been effective, put Detroit 30th in the league in yards per play. The Steelers haven’t given up more than 17 points in regulation. It’s going to be difficult for the Lions to win anything but a low-scoring affair.

Keeping the score well below the over/under of 45.5 won’t be easy, despite Pittsburgh’s struggles on offense. The Steelers have gone back to feeding Le’Veon Bell, and relying on maybe the NFL’s best running back seems to have helped the offense turn a corner.

Bell has rushed the ball at least 32 times in Pittsburgh’s last two games, totaling 383 yards from scrimmage. Pittsburgh is 4-0 when Bell gets more than 30 touches, outscoring their opponents by a total of 100-45.

Expect a heavy dose of Bell against a Lions’ defense that’s allowed at least 27 points in three of their last four games.

Detroit is 0-2 at home against teams that are currently .500 or better, failing to cover the spread each time. That trend should continue in Week 8.

Prediction: Pittsburgh over Detroit, 27-13