NFL Picks, Week 13: Who the experts predict to win Steelers vs. Chargers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off an embarrassing loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 12, one where they figuratively shot themselves in the foot via four turnovers. As they enter Week 13 with a 7-3-1 record, the road to the postseason doesn’t get any easier with the Los Angeles Chargers coming to Heinz Field for a prime time Week 13 showdown.

This is a crucial game for both teams, for a variety of reasons. For the Chargers, if they want to to try and keep pace with the AFC West leading Kansas City Chiefs, they cannot afford to lose another game. For the Steelers, a victory on home soil would further their quest to win the AFC North for the third straight time, and keep them in the conversation for a first round bye in the AFC Playoff Picture.

In other words, this game is big.

Philip Rivers vs. Ben Roethlisberger will highlight the Sunday Night Football matchup, but other battles make this game extremely difficult to pick. That is why we look to the experts for their point of view.

Who do they think will win? Let’s take a look...

The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t lost back-to-back games since the 2016 season, they are playing at home and Ben Roethlisberger’s career record at home in prime time is astounding. This is a large reason why experts are backing the home team in this upcoming AFC grudge match.

The fine folks at ESPN are very Steelers heavy this week, with 6 of their 9 experts liking the Steelers to hold serve at home. Even the haters here at SB Nation have turned the tide and are starting to pick the Steelers. Only 2 of the 7 experts believe the visiting Chargers can escape the 412 area code with a win. At CBS Sports, they too are pro-Steelers in their picks. Only Pete Prisco, 1 of 8 experts on the panel, like Los Angeles in this matchup.

The kicker here is these are only a few websites who submit weekly expert picks. There are so many others out there which are left off this article. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to track who they are taking in Week 13.

Thanks to our friends at NFL Pick Watch, a site which compiles all expert picks into one easy-to-read graph, a whopping 80% of experts are leaning the Steelers’ way this Sunday at Heinz Field.

Will the experts be right, and the Steelers improve to 8-3-1 on the season? Or will the Chargers continue to impress and hand Pittsburgh their second straight loss to an AFC West opponent? Only time will tell, but this is shaping up to be a tremendous game.