The Pittsburgh (1-3) Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs (2-2) at 4 pm today with the home team favored by 6.5 to 7 points. It sounds fair, except when you consider the recent breakdown in the Steeler offense and the ability of the Chiefs to overcome the loss of QB Trent Green. Pittsburgh has lost its last three games (Jacksonville 9-0, Cincinnati 28-20 and San Diego 23-13), after winning its opener against Miami (28-17). The Chiefs lost their first two– to Cincinnati (10-23) and Denver (6-9)– and have recently beaten San Francisco (41-0) and Arizona (23-20).

Overall, the Chiefs’ defense and offense have outperformed the Steelers’ squads. And Damon Huard at QB for Kansas City has been far better than Pittsburgh’s Roethlisberger.

The strongest part of this Steeler team—the defense—will be hampered this week due to injuries to the linebacking corps. Starting LB Joey Porter is out (hamstring) and backup LB James Harrison is already out! Huard, who has been completing over 70% of his passes for KC, should have time to continue making those plays.

On offense, veteran Steeler guard Kendall Simmons is out with frostbite after having fallen asleep with a cooling device on his foot that was being used to treat a heel injury! Chris Kemoeatu, a second-year man, will replace Simmons today, making his first appearance ever in a regular-season game. Roethlisberger, who has not been playing well this season, may find himself under a substantial rush. Pittsburgh desperately needs their running game to get into gear today.

My feeling is that the cards are in the Chiefs’ favor. If Kansas City does win, Pittsburgh, at 1-4, is all but done for the season.

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