AFC North’s Fierce Rivalries Set the Stage for an Unforgettable Showdown

Thursday Night Football lights up the screen again, and here we are—Steelers versus Bengals, kicking off Week 7. Can you believe we’re already knee-deep into the NFL season? It’s wild how time flies when you’re grinding through ups and downs, hoping you’ve banked more wins than losses. The Steelers, sitting pretty atop the AFC North with a 4-1 record, are flexing some serious muscle, but haven’t exactly steamrolled through a gauntlet—yet their rebound after that baffling loss to the Seahawks has been impressive. Meanwhile, the Bengals started strong but have sputtered more than revving engines lately, now turning to Joe Flacco to inject life into their offense. Will familiarity with Mike Tomlin’s playbook be the X-factor that keeps Cincinnati in this showdown? Or is this one destined to be a chess match, more defense than fireworks? Grab your popcorn, because under this total might be the smartest bet of all. Ready to dive deeper? LEARN MORE.

Steelers vs. Bengals, 8:15 ET

We’ve got Thursday Night Football ahead of us, and you know what that means… Yes, another play from yours truly. This has been a solid football season for me and us, and hopefully you’ve faded my losses and cashed with me on the wins. We have a divisional game to kick off our Week 7 slate, which is kind of crazy to think we are already more than a third of the way through the year. Let’s see how we can take on this matchup between the Steelers and Bengals.

The Steelers come into the game leading the division and looking like they probably are the cream of the crop in the AFC North. The Steelers are 4-1, and their lone loss was a bit of an odd occurrence for the Steelers against the Seahawks. There were a lot of mental mistakes, and Pittsburgh basically stopped getting anything going on offense in the second half of that game. Since that game, the Steelers have looked a lot better, beating the Browns, the Vikings, and the Patriots. This isn’t exactly a tough schedule, but let’s look a bit closer at this: The Patriots weren’t really playing all that great, and have since improved. The Steelers were also rebounding from their loss. The Vikings were without JJ McCarthy and the game took place overseas and anything can happen there. The Browns, last week, started Dillon Gabriel, and now the Steelers have to face the former starter for the Browns in Joe Flacco. The Bengals defense can be exploited in many ways, but they’ve been decent against wide receivers. They have given up five touchdowns to opposing tight ends so Jonnu Smith might be a good look.

The Bengals started great this season with a win over the Browns in the season opener in Cleveland. In the next game, even after Joe Burrow went down, the team was able to pull out a win over the Jaguars. Since that game, the team has done essentially nothing positive. They played fairly well against the Lions, but it wasn’t a close loss, falling by 13. Last week, in the first game with Flacco, they ended up covering the spread against the Packers in Green Bay. I wouldn’t say that it was a great game, the team got very little sustained offense, but they were at least looking like a bit of life had been breathed into them. Flacco went 29-for-45 with two touchdown passes, and he was clearly looking to get his primary receiver, JaMarr Chase, involved in the game. With a guy new to the club (Flacco) they weren’t asking him to hold back at all. I expect much of the same here. You need to attack as much as possible if you want any hope for your season when Burrow does become available again.

The Steelers’ defense has been good at keeping the ball in front of them most of the time, and haven’t allowed a ton of touchdowns to running backs or wide receivers. The Bengals should play the game a bit closer, and Flacco does at least give them a decent chance to win. He should be more than familiar with Mike Tomlin’s systems. I’m not taking a chance on the side, but I do think we should see the game go under the total. I just don’t see this being a matchup highlighted by the offense.

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