No team in the NFL betting action has had as turbulent of an offseason as the Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, maybe that’s not true. The Oakland Raiders’ football betting offseason has been the expected circus that it usually is but for the most stable of NFL betting franchises this year’s offseason has been cataclysmic for the 6-time Super Bowl betting champions.

The event that rocked this franchise as well as most of football betting was QB Ben Roethlisberger’s questionable behavior in a college bar in rural Georgia. His poor judgment earned the wrath of NFL Commissioner/God, Roger Goddell and earned him a 4-6 game suspension. Big Ben has been the engine behind the Steelers two recent Super Bowl betting wins and this team will sorely miss him when the 2010 NFL betting season opens up.

But will it ruin the Steelers chances of making the football betting playoffs? Probably not!

The aforementioned stability has this team well positioned to weather the first four games of the NFL betting action (and don’t think for a minute that he won’t be reinstated after four games, he earns too much money for the NFL to leave him out any longer) without Ben. In fact, this team should weather Big Ben’s absence much better than it did Troy Polamalu’s several game absences in the 2009 football betting action.

The Steelers have two competent backup QBs in Charlie Batch and Byron Leftwich. Even young Dennis Dixon has proved he can play in the NFL. The offense should be able to hold its own and with newly drafted Maurkice Pouncey the Steelers running game should be as good as it’s been in years.

With the return of Polamalu the defense should be much more effective this season as well and if the offense can get 13 points a game in Big Ben’s absence the Steelers should be fine.

After all, it’s not like the Steelers are playing against the Saints or Colts in their first four games. Pittsburgh’s first four games of the 2010 NFL betting season are against Atlanta, Tennessee, Tampa and Baltimore. Obviously the football odds matchup against hated rival Baltimore will be tricky but even if the Steelers go 3-1 to start the NFL betting season they’ll be in fine shape.