2022 NFL picks, score predictions for Week 15
Pittsburgh Steelers (5-8) at Carolina Panthers (5-8)
Sunday, December 18, 1:00 PM ET
Especially in hindsight, it seems like the entire NFL world could tell that Matt Rhule had one foot in the door of college football and one foot in his job with the Carolina Panthers. Rhule went into the 2022 NFL season on the hot seat, and he was one of the first head coaches to be fired.
Since Rhule has gone on to cornier things in Nebraska, Steve Wilks has been doing an outstanding job as the interim head coach and is starting to make his case for a longer-term position there. The Panthers really came through for me last week as my upset pick of the week against the Seattle Seahawks, somehow managing to score a whopping 30 points despite having just 105 total passing yards in the game.
The Panthers have won three of their last four games. They would have won five of their last seven were it not for DJ Moore ripping off his helmet after a miraculous touchdown grab against the Falcons, causing the extra point to be backed up and missed (among other factors leading to the Panthers missing out on stealing a win there).
To put it plainly, the Panthers are playing pretty good football these days. It might not be overly pretty, but they have given themselves a shot to make the playoffs despite all of the craziness that they’ve endured this year. Which again speaks to the job being done by Steve Wilks.
The Steelers have been hot and cold since their bye week. They have won three of their last five, but they’re coming off of an ugly loss to the Ravens this past week in which the offense turned the ball over three times. Those three turnovers all came courtesy of Mitch Trubisky, who had to come in after Kenny Pickett got absolutely slammed into the ground and entered concussion protocol.
Could we be getting Trubisky vs. Sam Darnold this week?
My goodness.
Ultimately, I think I’m riding with the Panthers this week, although that could come back to bite me.
Prediction: Panthers win 20-17