Christmas Day might be a day for family, presents and lots of turkey but as far as the NFL 2024 season is concerned it is one for a double header of action as Week 17 gets underway when the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs.
These two teams both lead their divisions. The Steelers are yet to secure their division but know that if they win their last two matches they will do that. Kansas City will secure the number one seed and home advantage throughout the playoffs with a win here so this is a competitive Christmas cracker.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers could have won the AFC North had they beaten their rivals Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night but having failed to do so they now need to win their last two games to ensure that they have a home match in the postseason courtesy of winning the division. That ambition is going to be severely tested here with what could be considered to be the toughest test in the NFL right now but if the Steelers can find a way to win it would pile the pressure on the Ravens later in the night.
This will be a very tough assignment for the Steelers defence, not least because it is up against Patrick Mahomes and co but they face them just four days after having to tackle Derrick Henry and the Baltimore Ravens for 60 minutes so you would think that they are going to need their offense to come to the party if they are going to win this match. That is perfectly possible, although it would be a massive help if George Pickens is able to return to the passing game.
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Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs head to Pittsburgh off the back of a good win over the Houston Texans on Saturday and a win here would give them an added Christmas present of having the number one seed secure with a match to spare where they could rest any starters such as perhaps Patrick Mahomes who has been dealing with an ankle issue in recent weeks and give Carson Wentz some snaps in a meaningful match in the last week of the regular season.
The Chiefs have made a habit of winning one score games this season and the win over the Texans last week was another of them. That made it five straight wins for a side who still haven’t fired on offense to the levels that we would expect of them. The fact that they haven’t needed to fire on that side of the ball highlights perfectly how good a job their defence is doing and if they continue to do that here then the Chiefs could very well end their day 15-1 for the year.
Betting
I was hoping that George Pickens would be ruled out here but even with him in the Pittsburgh Steelers side I have to take them on here because their defence has spent way too much time on the field in the last two matches, especially on Saturday night against the Baltimore Ravens. This is a short week for the Steelers and that defence has just spent 33 minutes tackling Derrick Henry and the likes and that came a week after they spent the better part of 40 minutes tackling another physical offense from Philadelphia.
Kansas City Chiefs control matches a lot more than most sides of them being on the short week isn’t as big a deal for them and we know that in tight matches they are coming out on top in most of them and they have an offense which is beginning to click into gear nicely. This Pittsburgh defence has suddenly conceded 61 points in the last two games and shipped 38 against the Bengals two weeks before that. The Chiefs defence is watertight and they might well be getting the Pittsburgh D at the right time so I’ll take the Chiefs to cover a 2.5 start.
Tips
Back Kansas City Chiefs (-2.5) to beat Pittsburgh Steelers for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
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