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Morning Coffee: Steelers a popular bet to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel
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Russell Wilson is headed to the Three Rivers City.
Sounds like the perfect place for a quarterback who’s all about making waves.
Okay, I’ll admit it.
It took a little longer than I expected to craft an opener that could double as one of Wilson’s posts on X.
Patience isn’t exactly my strong suit.
Then again, perfection takes time.
As it turns out, the Pittsburgh Steelers have emerged as one of the darlings of the NFL offseason so far.
The numbers don’t lie.
The Steelers could be found as high as 100-to-1 to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel in February.
One month later, they’re down to 60-to-1 to win it all.
Sure, they still have a long way to go to become a top-10 contender.
Still, there’s been enough hype in recent days for the black and gold to emerge as a popular pick to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel.
You see, Pittsburgh is a city where the steel is as tough as the people.
And now their football team has a starting quarterback with a steel resolve.
We’re firing on all cylinders this morning, people.
This is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday March 19th, 2024.
Steelers A Popular Bet To Win The Super Bowl At FanDuel
Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson, Kenny Pickett.
Sometimes a puzzle is simple enough that it doesn’t take a genius to put the pieces together.
The AFC North has consistently been one of the best divisions in football.
And the Steelers have been a perennial playoff contender with Mike Tomlin as head coach.
The biggest problem was an offence with the fewest passing touchdowns in the entire NFL over the previous two seasons.
Upgrading the QB position was an obvious need.
Wilson’s 42 touchdown passes over the past two years is nearly double the 25 that Pittsburgh’s quarterbacks combined to throw in that same span.
Plus, Wilson has had a ton of success against AFC North opponents in his career, including a 23-2 TD/INT ratio.
His 80.7 QBR against AFC North opponents is the second-highest mark of any QB versus a single division in the history of that metric.
Now Wilson gets to team up with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to make some magic in the Steel City.
Their fans seemed thrilled about the marriage.
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any negative reaction.
WTAE-TV is the Pittsburgh area’s top source for breaking news, weather, and daily local news coverage.
At the time Wilson signed with the Steelers, Pickett was still on their roster.
A reporter from WTAE-TV canvassed the downtown area and asked fans whether they thought Wilson or Pickett would win the quarterback competition.
All of them said Wilson.
All of them were wrong.
As it turns out, there would be no competition.
Pickett was promptly traded to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Steelers were so concerned about the potential for Pickett to develop into a Super Bowl-winning quarterback that they sent the 20th overall pick from the 2022 NFL Draft to the only team that plays in the same state.
Then they acquired Justin Fields from the Chicago Bears for a conditional sixth round pick.
Suddenly, the QB room bout to be….
Maybe Pittsburgh still has the fourth-best starting quarterback in the AFC North.
It’s still a significant upgrade over what they had.
Plus, with Wilson signing for just $1.2 million, it gave the Steelers an upgrade at the position while maintaining the salary cap flexibility to go sign linebacker Patrick Queen away from the Baltimore Ravens for $41 million.
Pittsburgh is a better team now that it was at the start of the offseason.
The black and gold went from 100-to-1 to 60-to-1 to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel.
They’ve also been a popular pick to win it all at long odds among Ontario sports bettors.
Per the traders at FanDuel Canada, the Steelers have been the most popular bet to win the Super Bowl since the start of free agency, accounting for 17 per cent of all wagers in that market.
The Eagles, Chicago Bears, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Ravens round out the top-five most popular bets to win the Super Bowl in April.
Pittsburgh has the longest odds to win it all among those five teams at 60-to-1.
Chicago is currently 40-to-1 to win the Super Bowl.
Kansas City (+650), Baltimore (+900) and Philadelphia (+1600) are all among the top-10 choices to win it all at FanDuel.
Would I recommend a play on the Steelers to win the Super Bowl at 60-to-1 odds?
No.
Still, it’s clear that Pittsburgh has improved enough on paper that Ontario bettors are willing to roll the dice on them at long odds.
With the NFL Draft just over a month away, I’m very interested to learn more about the team’s priorities.
As it stands, Steelers fans have every right to be optimistic.
For better or worse, here we go.