Thursday Night Football Picks, Preview, and Best Bets: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

Thursday Night Football Picks, Preview, and Best Bets: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

Another week of Thursday Night Football, another week of divisional matchups under the lights. The NFL has struck gold in the last few Thursday Night Football games. It’s been a close game after close game, even when it wasn’t expected. Steelers-Bengals could be the next in a long line of those as Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers (yes, this is 2025) square off. It’ll be just the second time in history that two quarterbacks over 40 start a game against each other. Tom Brady and Drew Brees were the only other duo to do so. Let’s preview and make our best bets for Thursday Night Football.


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Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers look just a little bit better each week as the NFL season chugs along behind the leadership of Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin. It wasn’t a pretty win last week over the Browns in Week 6, but it was a solid one. The defense was stifling, and the offense did enough to produce a solid day.

Pittsburgh took a stranglehold over the AFC North, moving to 4-1 on the season. Cincinnati, at just 2-4, is the next best team in the division. The Browns’ win was the Steelers’ third in a row. This week, they’ll be missing safety Miles Killebrew for Thursday night, and it’s not looking promising for Calvin Austin III. Austin was again listed as not practicing on Tuesday, and it’s likely he won’t be good to go.

Cincinnati Bengals

If you’d have told me before the season in Week 6, the Bengals would be 2-4 with Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback. I’m not sure I would have believed you. Bug here we are. The Bengals changed it up in the preseason, playing their starters, trying to shake up the juju and get off to a quicker start to the year. They just snuck by the Joe Flacco-led Cleveland Browns in Week 1. In Week 2, amidst a shootout with the Jacksonville Jaguars, they lost Joe Burrow for most, if not all, of the season.

Fast forward to the week between Week 5 and Week 6, and they made the rare inter-divisional trade with the Browns to acquire Joe Flacco’s services. Flacco and the Bengals held their own against the Packers last week, keeping the game respectable. Flacco looked like a statue, with a bad offensive line, and the Bengals have one of the worst defenses in the league.

Cincinnati may be without their star edge rusher, Trey Hendrickson, who did not practice once again on Tuesday with a back injury. Rookie Shemar Stewart was a full practice and will be good to go; the Bengals will need him if Hendrickson misses. Tight end Mike Gesicki won’t play, and kick returner Charlie Jones is looking unlikely for Thursday.

Thursday Night Football Picks, Preview, and Best Bets: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

Jaylen Warren Over 49.5 Rushing Yards (-115)

Only three teams in the NFL have allowed more rushing yards in 2025 than the Cincinnati Bengals. The Steelers running back room can be crowded at times, but there’s one guy who’s the for-sure lead back. Jaylen Warren. Warren missed the Week 4 game, but returned in Week 5 with 52 yards on just 11 carries against a tough Browns defense. Now he’s had the bye week to recover and get fresh, against this defense? Yes please.

DK Metcalf Over 59.5 Receiving Yards (-120)

This is easily my favorite player prop for Thursday Night Football this week. Rodgers and Metcalf have established a relationship that just keeps getting better. I’ll keep picking on this Bengals defense because, well, I expect the Steelers to do just that. Only the Cowboys have allowed more passing yards in 2025 than the Bengals have. Metcalf is Rodgers’ main target and the only healthy wide receiver of note. Rodgers will force-feed him the ball play after play against a bad Bengals secondary until it works. It’s worked well lately, with 95 yards against the Browns and 126 against the Vikings in Ireland.

Pittsburgh Steelers -5.5 (+100)

The trend is strong for the divisional underdogs covering lately, even in games that looked like they shouldn’t. But that can’t last forever, and this is Mike freaking Tomlin we’re talking about. Mike Tomlin is 14-4 straight up coming off the bye since 2007. He’s 11-7 against the spread in those same games. Against the Cincinnati Bengals, he’s had Zac Taylor’s card lately. The Steelers have covered in four straight games against the Bengals, and in five of the last six. This Bengals team is not good. Their defense sucks, and their offensive line is atrocious. Tomlin and Rodgers can figure out how to beat Flacco and Cincinnati by six points or more on Thursday night.

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