Steelers-Lions Spread Movement Shows How Invaluable Ben Roethlisberger is to Pittsburgh

Steelers starting QB Ben Roethlisberger was placed on the NFL's reserve/COVID-19 list this weekend and ruled out for the Steelers game against the Lions today.

Typically, when the starting quarterback for a team is a late scratch, the game's spread moves in a big way, as we saw when Aaron Rodgers was ruled out for the Packers game against the Chiefs last week.

For Roethlisberger? Not so much.

Before the news, the Steelers were 8-point favorites at WynnBET and the total was set at 42.5. After the news, the Steelers are now set as 5.5-point favorites and the total dropped down to 40.5. That's a total line movement of 2.5 points on the spread and 2 points on the over/under.

That may seem like a lot, but when Rodgers was ruled out, the line for that game moved 6 points. The Chiefs were 1-point home favorites before the news. After it, they were 7-point favorites. That's an 8-point move. That type of movement was similar to when Cowboys QB Dak Prescott was ruled out against the Vikings, with the line moving from Cowboys -2.5 to +4.5.

Now, Roethlisberger isn't at the same level of Rodgers or Prescott at this point of his career. But based on the line movement, Vegas is saying he's less than half as important to his team's success than Rodgers or Prescott. And it's not like his backup, Mason Rudolph, is so much better than Rodgers' or Prescott's backups, Jordan Love and Cooper Rush, respectively.

The Steelers' opponent likely played a role in this as well. The Lions are 0-8, the only winless team in the league, and have scored the third-fewest points. The Steelers defense is the heart of this team and the lack of line movement suggests Vegas believes they can shut down the Lions enough for them to still win comfortably.

Either way, it's interesting to see the lack of line movement from the Roethlisberger news. A few years ago, his absence would have moved the spread a lot more. Now he's not nearly as important to the Steelers success.