Steelers vs. Lions Point Spread: NFL Pre-Season Week 3 Odds, Prediction
The Steelers might have to play their top two quarterbacks simply as they don’t know their Week 1 regular-season starter yet. Pittsburgh is a 6.5-point favourite on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Most teams will not play any starters in the preseason finale simply as it’s too close to the regular season and coaches don’t want to worry about injury. This type of game is more about the last chance for those guys on the edge of the roster to make one final impression. It’s Detroit’s lone home preseason game and Pittsburgh’s only one on the road.
The clubs will not play in the 2024 regular season, although we suppose it’s not impossible they meet in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. Pittsburgh comes off a 10-win season in 2023 but just missed out on an AFC wild-card spot. The Steelers haven’t finished with a losing record since 1999, and Coach Mike Tomlin has set an NFL mark with 17 straight non-losing seasons to begin his career.
Detroit had one of the best seasons in franchise history last year with 12 regular-season wins and a trip to the NFC title game, where it blew a 17-point second-half lead in a loss in San Francisco. The Lions are +135 favourites to repeat in the NFC North, which I think they do, and +550 to win the conference for the first time in franchise history, which I also think they do.
The last regular-season meeting between the clubs was in Week 10 in 2021 and they tied 16-16 in Pittsburgh. The last preseason meeting was the finale also in Pittsburgh in 2022, and the Steelers won 19-9.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Mike Tomlin may have no choice but to at least play his offensive starters a bit because that unit has not looked good so far with quarterbacks Justin Fields and Russell Wilson both having their issues – especially Wilson. Tomlin has not named his Week 1 starter yet, although most expect it to be Wilson simply with his career resume. Pittsburgh is 0-2 in the 2024 preseason (both at home) and has scored just 15 total points.
Through eight series, the Steelers’ first-team offence has failed to score any points and recorded just seven first downs. Wilson didn’t play in the opener and was 8-for-10 for 47 yards with three sacks taken in last week’s loss to Buffalo. Fields was 11-for-17 for 92 yards and a sack and led the team with 42 yards rushing on eight carries. To make matters worse, starting centre Nate Herbig is expected to be sidelined for a significant amount of time with a torn rotator cuff and co-No. 1 running back Jaylen Warren will miss multiple weeks with a hamstring injury.
Detroit Lions
Detroit hasn’t played most starters in going 1-1 this preseason, and that’s not expected to change Saturday – we definitely won’t see starting QB Jared Goff, electric running back Jahmyr Gibbs or Pro Bowl tight end Sam La Porta. Goff is fine health-wise, while the latter two are dealing with injuries but should be ready for Week 1. Journeyman Nate Sudfeld and second-year Hendon Hooker, who missed all of his rookie season injured, are battling for the No. 2 spot behind Goff and Sudfeld appears to have the upper hand there as he has started both exhibition games so far – they have rotated second-team snaps during practices.
Hooker started in the second half in last week’s win in Kansas City – we recommended Detroit here at +6.5 — after suffering a concussion in the preseason opener against the Giants. Hooker, a former Heisman candidate at the University of Tennessee, looked very good in completing 12 of 15 for 150 yards and a rushing TD. Maybe Detroit’s most impressive offensive player thus far, though, has been rookie RB Sione Vaki, a fourth-round pick. Vaki had just 42 career carries and 11 receptions after switching from safety to running back at Utah. He will definitely stick on the roster.