What’s Wrong With The Pittsburgh Steelers?

As reigning Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the second favorite to win the 2010 championship game after those darlings in New England, the Patriots.  Now the Steelers have been relegated to +1600 odds at Sportsbetting.com (with a payout potential of $1600 for every $100 bet or $160 for every $10 bet).  

So what is wrong with the Pittsburgh Steelers this season?

They are after all 1-2 heading into Week 4 and quite possibly could be 0-3 if not for that overtime win in Week 1 against the Titans.

First, our biggest concern entering this season here at Gambling911.com was the rape allegations lodged against Steelers quarterback Big Ben Roethlisberger.

While the allegations have been widely brushed away by the press (ESPN failed to report on the matter initially), Washoe District (Nevada) Judge Brent Adams rejected arguments that the suit should be dismissed, saying Andrea McNulty's allegations make a "sufficient" claim that if proven, would entitle her to relief.

"The court recognizes that a motion to dismiss is only proper where it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff could prove no set of facts which, if true, would entitle them to relief," Adams wrote in the order filed late Tuesday.

True or not true, these allegations have to be a significant distraction to Roethlisberger and probably the team as a whole.

Then there is the injury to Troy Polamalu which serves to illustrate just how a single injury can affect an entire team's performance. 

Troy Polamalu (sprained knee) started running Wednesday and he has not ruled out playing Sunday night against the Chargers.

The 1-2 Steelers need their All-Pro back now!

The Steelers are not new to this Super Bowl hangover.

Following their 2006 Super Bowl win, the Steelers ended up starting 2-6 and they wound up missing the playoffs.

Allen Robinson of the Canadian Press trying to explain this year's quagmire:

A super-sized success hangover? Maybe not. But the Steelers still haven't run the ball like they normally do late in a game, and they've made the kind of game-altering mistakes they almost never made last season while going 12-4 and winning three post-season games.

"We have to get back to whatever we were doing to win games," cornerback Deshea Townsend said. "We have to find ways to get close as a defensive unit and figure out ways to get off the field."

While they already trail the Baltimore Ravens (3-0) by two games in the AFC North, they still have two games remaining against the Browns (0-3), plus the Lions (1-2) and Raiders (1-2) at home and the Chiefs (0-3) and Dolphins (0-3) on the road.  That's good value for Steelers backers as Pittsburgh now pays decent odds to win the AFC North and are still more than capable of doing so, especially with Polamalu coming back and a soft schedule ahead.  The Steelers would pay out $7 for every $4 bet or $70 for every $40 bet just to win the division.  By comparison, the Ravens would pay $2 for every $3 bet (the initial $2 bet is returned if the Ravens win the division). 

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Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com