No excuses

Yeah...and other than Atlanta - bye teams seem to have come out flat. Wait...isn't KC a bye team?????

 

I recently re-watched the first Steeler KC match up. The Steelers absolutely killed them. The Chiefs could not do anything on defense or offense. That gives me confidence.

 

If we are going by this metric then the same results should happen in terms of a massacre; something I find very unlikely to occur.

 

The circumstances are very different this time. Cameron Heyward dominated that game. He had three sacks and deflected a pass that Jarvis Jones intercepted. Also, that was when Sammie Coates was making plays and Markus Wheaton even had a decent game. Also, the home field is a big deal for both of these teams and this one is in KC. Oh, and the special teams are missing Thomas and Chickillo against Tyreek Hill.

The Steelers came out flying that day and the Chiefs never recovered. I just don't see that happening again.

All of that said, Pittsburgh's defense is better overall than it was early in the season and Bell is going to be running against the league's 26th-ranked defense, so it is certainly a game the Steelers can win. I just don't harbor any illusions of this one being anywhere near as easy as the first meeting of these teams.