PITTSBURGH STEELERS AT SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
Won’t you just take a look at these two? The team of the ’70′s visiting the team of the ’80s on Monday Night Football. Christmas come early for us football fans. These two can boast eleven Super Bowl victories between them (Pittsburgh six, San Fran five), which equates to what is basically a quarter of all the Super Bowls played. Not bad going that and this year could see one of them make it twelve victories out of forty six, which is remarkable.
The 49ers clinched the NFC West weeks ago (some might say as early as Week 1!), a much maligned division and while San Francisco brought some respect back to what goes on out West in the NFC, the respective hot streaks that the Seahawks and Cardinals are currently riding has sounded the death knell for all those knockers out there who just love to moan about nothing. Gentlefolk, the NFL is cyclical (mainly, in my opinion, because of the annual Draft) so please allow for some divisions to suffer a season of mediocrity once in a while.
Pittsburgh would have watched in amazement as the San Diego Chargers dismantled and manhandled the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night and therein lies all the motivation the Steelers need for this one. They’re now half a game clear of the Ravens and will be desperate to double that. What’s more is that Pittsburgh play host to the Rams next week on Christmas Eve, which is surely a gimme, so a win tonight means that all that’s required is a victory at Cleveland on New Year’s Day to clinch the division and a bye into the divisional round of the playoffs.
The bye would be guaranteed as their nearest rival to that particular Get out of Jail Free card is Houston, who now possess a 10-4 record after losing to Carolina on Sunday, which would keep them one game behind Pittsburgh as long as the Steelers keep winning. In fact, the Black and Gold could even secure homefield advantage throughout the playoffs as they hold the tiebreaker advantage over New England having beaten the Patriots 25-17 in Week 8.
When I mentioned above that the game against the Rams is surely a gimme, I’m reticent to say too much as fresh in the memory is Green Bay’s 19-14 shocker in Kansas City yesterday, particularly as I wrote in my preview that the Packers would, at some stage during the game, lead by fourteen points, which was what the spread was. Of course what I meant to say was that they would score fourteen points!
The biggest talking point in the lead up to this contest has been Ben Roethlisberger’s ankle injury and whether or not it would keep him from playing. Good news for all (except those of a 49er persuasion) is that he took all of the snaps in Saturday’s practice, which is the greenest of green lights. Interestingly, and something that I hadn’t even considered comes from the fantasy football spin on ESPN, which states that Roethlisberger will probably play, assuming his ankle doesn’t swell up on the flight across the country. Word to ankle…don’t swell up on the flight across the country!
San Fran have lost two of their last three and last week’s 21-19 loss in Arizona worried me. I wrote before the game that the spread of the Niners -3.5 points was almost too good to be true and I couldn’t figure out why Vegas had it set so low. I didn’t like it and I’m not certain there wasn’t something a little pre-ordained about the result. I’m never wary of anything odd happening behind the scenes in this wonderful sport, but the whole outcome left a sour taste in the mouth. As of next season, I’m going to be picking up on things like this and really highlighting it.
In contrast, the Steelers have won their last four and have only conceded nineteen points in their last three. Granted, two of those games were against KC and Cleveland, but this is a Steeler defense ranked first in the league and as goes the great unwritten rule in the NFL: Defense wins Championships. If I could pick my two Super Bowl teams right now, I’d love to see a Steelers/Saints matchup.
The line here is Pittsburgh +3, which looks high to me. However, unlike my aforementioned misgivings from last week, there’s nothing untoward happening here, not least because of the fine football both teams have played this season. Yes, I’m siding with the Steelers in a big way and may have my largest bet of the week on them. This promises much and I can’t wait for it to start.
I hope you enjoy it as a precursor to the feast of football that awaits us on Christmas Eve.
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