The College Football regular season is over, and the NFL continues its quest to dominate every day of the week with added regular season games on Saturday. One of those Saturday games will be an incredibly important game in the AFC wildcard race as the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to take on the Indianapolis Colts. Both teams are 7-6 and they occupy the number one and number two spots in a six-team tie for the last two wild card spots at 7-6.
Everything is on the line at this stage in the season. One misstep in a game like this puts you five steps behind the playoff hunt. The Steelers are meandering and limping through an up-and-down season. The Colts were riding high on a four-game winning streak before losing to the Cincinnati Bengals last week. Everything is on the line for these two teams' seasons in this game. Here's everything you need to know and how to watch.
How to watch Steelers vs. Colts
The Steelers vs. Colts game is the middle part of a Saturday NFL triple header. The Colts and Steelers are situated between the Minnesota Vikings vs. Cincinnati Bengals and the Detroit Lions vs. Denver Broncos. All three games will have serious playoff implications and will also be on NFL Network and the NFL's new NFL+ streaming service. You can stream this game and the other two on fuboTV for no additional cost to your subscription.
Date: Saturday, Dec. 16 | 4:30 p.m. EST
Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana
T.V. channel: NFL Network| Live stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)
FanDuel Odds: Colts -2.5 | O/U 42
Steelers storylines
The Pittsburgh Steelers made it ten games into the 2023 NFL regular season with a 6-4 record before firing offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Canada presided over a historically awful Steelers offense, however, and the team pulled the plug on a coach midseason for the first time in decades. In their three games since, they've posted one good offensive game and then lost to two ten-loss teams in back-to-back weeks. So you could say the results have been mixed. But despite the play of their own offense, TJ Watt and the Steelers defense have still been very good. They aren't stifling teams' yardage as much as they have in years past, but they've allowed few enough points to turn some truly horrific offensive performances into wins.
However, last week, in a loss to a pathetic New England Patriots team considering parting ways with Bill Belichick, the team's flaws were laid bare. The offense was still terrible without Kenny Pickett, who was out indefinitely after an ankle injury. Mitchell Trubisky couldn't get much going, and 21 first-half points proved too much to overcome despite a defensive shutout in the second half. What is this team? Their floor and ceiling are as far apart as any team in the league. They haven't really shown that they deserve to make it to the playoffs. However, they would probably be an uncomfortable matchup for a team like Kansas City that has struggled on offense. They have a few weeks left to figure it all out. And knowing Pittsburgh, anything could happen.
Colts storylines
The Indianapolis Colts started the year off with a long and awkward holdout situation with star running back Jonathan Taylor, and things haven't really smoothed out since. They haven't been the best team in the AFC South this year so far. That title belongs to the Jacksonville Jaguars, sitting at 8-5.
They haven't been the most exciting team in the AFC South this year, either. That title belongs to CJ Stroud's Houston Texans squad. And yet, despite getting swept by the Jaguars and a three-game losing streak that dropped them to 3-5, they sit at 7-6 now and are in second place in the division.
They've climbed back into the AFC playoff picture by taking advantage of a soft spot in their schedule (back-to-back games against the Patriots and Carolina Panthers) and winning every other game against their division rivals so far. Gardner Minshew has stepped in for the injured rookie Anthony Richardson and led the Colts to a top-10 scoring offense in the NFL. This is good because their defense is a bottom-three scoring unit across the league.
That may not matter too much against an offense struggling as much as Pittsburgh's. What really might matter is the fact that Jonathan Taylor was ruled out for Saturday's game. Despite a down production year, he still can change the game for this offense. And while their opponent's offense may not scare them, the Steelers defense will be the toughest test this offense has faced in weeks. The Colts have four games left. This game and Week 18 against the Texans could decide their whole season.
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