It's a possible letdown game for the AFC North-leading Steelers (8-2) on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 12 as they visit the last-place Browns (2-8) in the first of two meetings this season. Cleveland hasn't won a division title since 1989, the longest division title drought in the NFL, and would become the first team eliminated from divisional contention in 2024 with a loss. Pittsburgh is a 3.5-point favorite with a low total of 37, and we might see our first snow in an NFL game this year. This is the biggest margin the Steelers have been favored by in this rivalry since 2018.

The Browns' Kevin Stefanski is a two-time NFL Coach of the Year, including in 2023, but there are reports out of Cleveland this week that if the team would make make an in-season coaching change, it would be on Friday if the Browns are beaten on Thursday night. That way, the interim coach gets a mini-bye to prepare for the rest of the season and also give the team a head start on the coaching market, with the Browns widely expected to target former Titans coach Mike Vrabel.

On the bright side, I suppose, the Browns are the +350 favorites to finish with the worst record this season, which would of course earn them the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The team could pursue a reboot at quarterback with someone like Colorado's Shedeur Sanders, as the Deshaun Watson trade obviously isn't working out. Cleveland hasn't made a first-round pick since 2021, as the previous three were sent to Houston in the team's trade for Watson.

My concern about this being a possible trap game for the Steelers is that they just had a typically close battle last Sunday with bitter rival Baltimore, with Pittsburgh winning 18-16 after stopping a Ravens 2-point try in the final minute. That gave Mike Tomlin's club command of the AFC North race and the Steelers are now -225 favorites to win it. The top seed in the AFC is also theoretically on the table after Kansas City (9-1) finally lost on Sunday. The Steelers don't play either the Chiefs or AFC East-leading Bills (9-2) in the regular season and sit third behind those two in the conference. For the No. 1 seed, K.C. is -145, Buffalo is +210 and Pittsburgh is +700.

The Steelers also would top their preseason over/under win total of 8.5 (Under was -150) with a victory, and it would extend Tomlin's NFL record streak of consecutive non-losing seasons to open a head coaching career to 18 in a row. Only Tom Landry (21 seasons from 1965-1985) and Bill Belichick (19 seasons from 2001-2019) have more consecutive winning seasons overall. 

We'll take you through every aspect of the Steelers-Browns game that you need to know before you lock in your bets, including SportsLine expert picks, props, trends, DFS, injury information and everything else that will help you know which plays are worth making for the primetime matchup.

Who wins Steelers vs. Browns in the Week 12 Thursday night game, and what critical X-factor makes one side of the spread hit HARD? Join SportsLine right now to see everything you need to know about the game in the Thursday night matchup to kick off Week 12 of the 2024 season!