With two weeks of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2018 preseason now in the books and their annual tune up game now on the horizon, do you like the prospects of this year’s team making it to the Super Bowl? If you do, you are not alone as at least one national NFL analyst is already now on record as predicting that this year’s Steelers team will be playing in Super Bowl LIII.
On Tuesday, longtime NFL analyst Andy Benoit, who currently writes “The MMQB” column for Sports Illustrated, predicted the Steelers going 11–5 during the 2018 season and then beating the Los Angeles Chargers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs as the No. 2 seed and then the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game to advance to this year’s Super Bowl in Atlanta.
If you’re now excited about Benoit’s 2018 prediction for the Steelers, you’ll probably be disappointed to now learn that he has them ultimately losing to the Atlanta Falcons 27–24 in the Super Bowl and he explains in his prediction why that is.
“…And yet I’m picking the Falcons to be the first team to play (and win) a Super Bowl at home. Atlanta has a diverse, electrifying offense quarterbacked by 2016 MVP Matt Ryan. They also have a fast, unified defense built around guys in their prime. In the AFC, the Patriots feel a touch weaker this year, so I’m giving that conference to the Steelers, who can win with a smashmouth ground game or a high-flying spread passing game. They, too, have a defense in its prime. But the Falcons are a more complete team. Atlanta finally gets its Lombardi Trophy,” wrote Benoit.
The Steelers defense in its prime, Mr Benoit? Ok, we’ll see.
In all likelihood, Benoit won’t be the only national media NFL analyst to predict a Super Bowl appearance for this year’s Steelers team. In fact, if most others don’t pick the Patriots to once again represent the AFC in this year’s Super Bowl, the Steelers will likely be the next most popular choice.
The Steelers, according to the most-recent Super Bowl odds listed on mybookie.ag, are +800 to win it all in 2018 and only the Patriots at +400 have shorter odds when it comes to the AFC teams. The Falcons, by the way, are currently listed at +1500 to win this year’s Super Bowl, according to the betting site.
The Steelers, coincidentally enough, will play the Falcons this season in Week 5 at Heinz Field.
