Early Odds: Steelers are home favorites, but the line has changed dramatically

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a red hot team in the NFL right now. They have won six games in a row, coming off of a huge win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 16. They’ve also clinched the AFC North and they’re locked in as the No. 3 seed in the AFC Playoff Picture.

The Cleveland Browns are about as hot as they’ve been all year, considering that they went winless until their Week 16 victory over the San Diego Chargers. Hue Jackson’s squad is looking to finish the 2016 regular season on a high note by beating the Steelers at Heinz Field.

When Las Vegas released the opening lines for Week 17, they had the Steelers as 12.5-point favorites against the Browns at home. That sounds about right, but then news broke of Mike Tomlin not planning to play several starters, including Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. This changed things, especially with the betting line.

The new line for the game still has the Steelers as favorites, but now only by 8 points. In fact, some books have Pittsburgh as 6-point favorites. This makes you wonder whether the Steelers’ backups can beat the Cleveland starters.

Being almost a touchdown favorite, even at home, without the superstars in your lineup certainly is a ringing endorsement, but if you’re someone who likes the Steelers to cover the spread, even with Landry Jones, Fitzgerald Toussaint and B.J. Finney in the lineup, you might want to head to the window quick, before the line changes again.