Count NFL analyst Adam Schein among the believers that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ win total will surpass their Vegas odds of 8.5. After Brooke Pryor of ESPN reported earlier today that the team’s over was the most bet on DraftKings, Schein offered a lot of love for the over on Time To Schein show on CBS Sports Network.
“I love this. And I think the Pittsburgh Steelers when you study their talent, their quarterback, their draft and their offseason, I think Pittsburgh has a minimum of nine wins,” Schein said. “Wouldn’t be surprised if they hit 10. I think Pittsburgh is going to get off to a good start. I think they have a lot of games at home they’re going to be able to capture right after San Francisco in week number one. And I think the Pittsburgh Steelers, the last thing you should do is sleep on them.”
Over the years, Schein hasn’t been so positive about the Steelers, so to get some love from him is nice. And I think he’s right. When looking at Pittsburgh’s schedule, it’s hard to find nine losses. While anybody can beat anybody on any given Sunday — and the Steelers have been notorious for some bad losses under Mike Tomlin — the Steelers went 9-8 last season with a roster that wasn’t as talented on paper as it is now and a schedule that was a lot harder on paper than the 2023 one.
The game isn’t played on paper but taking the under of 8.5 also assumes Mike Tomlin’s streak of going .500 or better gets snapped. While the benefit to that would be it stops getting brought up every single time the Steelers play and we can stop pretending that going .500 is an achievement, I just don’t think this is the Steelers team that finishes under .500. This is a team on the rise. Kenny Pickett should be better in year two, his offensive line is better, the team’s defense is a little bit better and the weapons on offense are better across the board.
I was bullish on the 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers, and while it looked ugly for a while, they ended up proving me right in the end. I’m a lot more bullish on the 2023 Steelers, and I’m with Schein in that I could see them winning 10 games this season.
The three-game stretch at the end of the season — at home against the Bengals before back-to-back road games against the Seahawks and Ravens — is tough, but the Steelers could easily have nine wins heading into that stretch. I can’t wait for the season to get underway and for Pittsburgh to let its play do the talking.
