People were starting to believe in the Pittsburgh Steelers as they entered their bye week with three-straight wins and a 5-3 record, but that winning streak consisted of the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets, and New York Giants. It wasn’t exactly the murderers’ row of their football schedule. But following a win against the then 7-2 Washington Commanders, the Steelers are receiving a lot of love from the betting community.
According to ESPN BET on X, the Steelers have received the second most bets to win the Super Bowl since their Week 10 win over the Washington Commanders. They are only behind the red-hot Detroit Lions.
Their graphic shows the Steelers receiving 13.1 percent of the total volume of bets for Super Bowl winners since Week 10 as well as 11.6 percent of the handle, which is the total amount of money for this betting category. It is still well behind the Lions with 20.6 percent of bets and 32.6 percent of the handle, but it’s still an impressive spot for the Steelers.
Before the season, the majority of analysts across the major media outlets, as well as the projection models and Vegas win totals, were not very kind to the Steelers. The consensus seemed to be somewhere around seven or eight wins on the season, with some settling on another 9-7 winning season at best. You had to look very hard for outlets predicting a playoff berth for the Steelers. Lo and behold, the Steelers are 8-2 with a real shot at capturing the AFC’s 1-seed and a first-round bye.
The performance of the defense has been the main driving force for their success, but all three phases have contributed in a big way. Special teams have provided a spark on multiple occasions, including three blocked kicks and punts as well as a punt returned for a touchdown.
The offense has also performed better since Russell Wilson returned from injury. They have been one of the top offenses in terms of yards gained since his return. Their last hurdle to clear is figuring out the red zone.
Their remaining schedule is tough, but not much harder than the Commanders and Ravens in back-to-back weeks, and they handled that test well. The Chiefs are close behind the Steelers in bets, but surprisingly the Buffalo Bills are lagging way behind, though the few who are betting on the Bills are betting large with 8.1 percent of the handle.
