Browns vs. Steelers Playoff Odds: Opening Spread, Total & Wild Card Projections
Justin K. Aller/Getty Images. Pictured: Ben Roethlisberger
Browns vs. Steelers Odds
Browns vs. Steelers Playoff Projections
The experts who power our NFL PRO Projections use their consensus team ratings to project a spread.
- Spread: Steelers -4
Sean Koerner — one of those five experts — also outlines his individual projections:
- Spread: Steelers -5
- Total: 47
Browns vs. Steelers Player Ratings
Sean Koerner, our Director of Predictive Analytics, uses his player projections to calculate the most valuable players on each team based on their worth to the spread.
How Browns Reached Wild Card Weekend
It's been a lot of running, a little Baker Mayfield and beating teams that good teams are supposed to beat.
Kevin Stefanski was brought in as head coach and increased the team's scoring by 5 points per game utilizing the league's fourth-best rushing offense. Mayfield has been more accurate this year and turning the ball over less — he threw 21 interceptions in 2019 compared to just eight this season.
Odell Beckham Jr. went down with a torn ACL in Week 7. The Browns are 6-3 since then, spreading the ball around to five different receivers.
The Browns are 3-3 against teams better than .500 and 8-2 against teams worse than .500. That's what good teams are supposed to do, right?
How Steelers Reached Wild Card Weekend
On the surface, an AFC North title and the No. 3 seed in the playoffs is a rousing success for Pittsburgh. But it doesn’t feel that way considering the way the season ended.
At 11-0, some were dreaming of a 16-0 season for the Steelers. Sportsbooks even offered odds on the feat, and why not? Not only was Pittsburgh 11-0, but it covered the spread in eight of those games, which included two wins over the Ravens and one over the Titans.
Then came the three consecutive losses to Washington, Buffalo and Cincinnati. Was Ben Roethlisberger cooked? Were the Steelers frauds? From undefeated aspirations to a first-round exit?
A comeback win over the Colts in Week 16 at least paused that thinking. Roethlisberger sat out Week 17 against the Browns to rest for the playoffs. Pittsburgh still gets to play at home and has regular-season wins over four playoff teams.
Pittsburgh has to be entering the playoffs with one of the worst perceptions for a 12-win team in recent memory.
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