Pittsburgh Steelers-Kansas City Chiefs Odds and Picks Against the Spread
Will the erratic Steelers bring their top game against the undefeated Chiefs on Sunday night? SportsLine breaks down the matchup.
The Chiefs continued their earl-season roll with a 42-34 prime-time win over the upstart Texans, whom many observers picked to give Kansas City its first loss.
Undefeated Kansas City (5-0) will face another test Sunday against an uneven Steelers team looking to rebound from a blowout home loss to Jacksonville as a touchdown favorite.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw five interceptions amid one of the worst performances of his career, and the defense allowed rookie Leonard Fournette to rush for 181 yards.
LINE MOVEMENTS AND TRENDS
This number opened as low as Kansas City -3 in some markets, but quickly settled into the universal spread of -4 and remains there as of Wednesday afternoon. The total opened at 47 in the majority of markets, and has been pushed down to 46 at most sportsbooks.
The home team is 7-2 ATS in the last nine matchups in this series. The Under is on a 5-1 run between these clubs. Pittsburgh has covered four of five against winning teams, while Kansas City has covered five straight overall.
BREAKDOWN
The Chiefs kept the league's top-ranked scoring offense (32.8 ppg) rolling against a normally solid Houston defense with a lethal mix of a balanced passing games and more explosive running plays from rookie Kareem Hunt.
However, Kansas City's defense allowed Houston’s standout rookie, quarterback Deshaun Watson, to throw for 261 yards and five touchdowns. He kept the Texans within striking distance in a game the Chiefs appeared to dominate for the most part.
Roethlisberger and the Steelers will hope to find those same holes in the Kansas City defense. The Steelers quarterback backed off postgame comments in which he suggested the game might have passed him by, but he can bolster his case with a strong performance Sunday.
Still, Pittsburgh's maddening inconsistency on both sides of the ball is cause for concern. It has a pair of 26-9 wins over solid opponents Baltimore and Minnesota to its credit, but also a pair of losses to touchdown underdogs in Chicago and Jacksonville.
Pittsburgh's No. 28-ranked rushing defense (136.6 ypg) must limit Hunt at the line of scrimmage and force Kansas City into long down-and-distance situations. Meanwhile, Roethlisberger and friends have to produce points against a Kansas City passing defense that is No. 27 in the NFL (248 ypg).
PICK
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