Two teams on opposite trajectories meet in Week 7’s edition of Thursday Night Football.
The pregame narrative: The Pittsburgh Steelers are 4-1, sitting firm atop the AFC North standings. They are the only team in the division above .500 and look to build on their great start against the downtrodden Cincinnati Bengals, who are seeking to snap a losing streak.
Check out my Steelers vs. Bengals picks for Oct. 16, featuring a prop bet on Ja’Marr Chase and an over/under pick.
Steelers vs. Bengals picks
Best Bet: Over 43.5 points (-110)
The Bengals have it rough without Joe Burrow, but it’s clear Joe Flacco works better in this offence than Jake Browning did.
- Flacco completed 29 passes for 219 yards in his debut, recording two touchdowns and no interceptions.
- In Browning’s time as the starter, he threw six TD passes and turned the ball over eight times.
- Browning also managed a measly 189.3 passing yards per game.
The Green Bay Packers have a very tough defence, so it feels like that was the floor for a Flacco-led offence.
This week’s opponent, the Steelers, ranks in the bottom half for rushing yards allowed, while conceding the sixth most passing yards per game (245.0).
Chase leads a top-tier offensive skill group with the likes of Tee Higgins and Chase Brown in the mix as well.
On the other side, Aaron Rodgers has been cooking with his new team. He has a 105.4 passer rating with 10 TD passes.
The Steelers average 23.8 points on offence and should take advantage of a poor Bengals defence.
Key stat: Cincy gives up the second most yards (403.8) and the third most points (30.5) per game while allowing the opposition to convert 45.9% of third downs.
Thursday Night Football prop pick
Chase over 6.5 receptions (-130): The reason Flacco had some success in this offence was simple – he threw the ball to Chase … a lot.
The wideout was targeted 12 times by Flacco against the Packers, leading to 10 receptions for 94 yards and a score.
Even with poor QB play, Chase still averages 7.0 receptions a game on 9.5 targets.
His 57 targets lead the Bengals, and Higgins is the only other player with over 20 targets (37).
It’s obvious the offence runs through Chase, and most teams can’t do anything to stop him. He just needed a competent QB to throw him the ball.
As mentioned before, the Steelers allow the sixth-most receiving yards per game. This is an easier matchup than last week, meaning Chase should see double-digit targets again, giving this pick a high floor.
Steelers vs. Bengals picks made at 1:20 p.m. ET 10/14/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.