Each week the Steel City Underground staff will put their brilliant minds to task in order to come up with their keys to the game, or, those players, coaching decisions, or situations which could determine the outcome of the game.

Tommy Jaggi

The key to this game for the Steelers rests on the play of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Ben is coming off his best game of the season, but his statistics were nothing to brag about. He completed just 58 percent of his passes for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns. However, with the rest of the team stepping up to the plate (mainly on the defensive side of the ball), the Steelers can really only be as good as Big Ben allows them to be at this point. Historically, Roethlisberger has struggled a bit on the road, and an uncommon opponent in Detroit could catch him off guard. However, if Ben can manage the game and avoid turnovers, the Steelers will walk away with a road victory against the Lions this weekend.

Brian E. Roach

In my opinion the key to this game will be continuing to funnel the ball through levy on Bell. Lions have a decent Rush defense based on solid defensive line, however their linebackers can be taken advantage of. Run Bell and throw underneath to Bell and the Steelers should be able to keep the offense moving and even open up the passing game more.

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Tina Rivers

The Steelers have to take advantage of the Lions’ porous offensive line and keep Matthew Stafford from hitting receiving targets. With a less-than-spectacular run game, this forces the Lions into a shootout. Ben Roethlisberger has to play smart and – even if he yells at Todd Haley – pick plays that compliment his offense rather than forcing the ball. The run game absolutely will keep the takeaway machine that is the Lions defensive backfield busy trying to predict how the Steelers will put together drives.

Mike Pelaia

The Steelers need to avoid the turnovers. The Lions are number two in the NFL in turnover ratio and they have an opportunistic defense in that regard. If the Steelers can maintain possession of the ball and avoid the key mistakes, they will win the game.

Terry Fletcher

I hate the phrase “trap game” but coming off two big AFC wins and heading into a Bye week I’m concerned about playing on the road against a pedestrian 3-3 NFC team. The fact that Hubbard will again fill in for Gilbert, McDonald (who sucks as a TE but is a key blocker for the run game,)is outn and then the benching of Martavis Bryant for being a social media brat last week will be felt on offense.

I believe the key to this game will be our passing game. We are going against NFL’s 22nd ranked pass defense. Yes feeding Bell will have to balance it, but Brown, Bell, and JuJu will need to be on alert for some major down field throws. This should be a wide receiverss dream game and I’d love to see one of those six touchdown games from Big Ben and some really fun TD celebrations from our youngster JuJu Smith-Schuster. The media likes to refer to Ben as a drama queen, well in the Sunday night prime time gamewhere everyone will be watching I’d love to see some major Steelers drama with a 42-0 shutout on the road.

Joe Kuzma

Jump on that Le’Veon Bell train again this week.

The Lions defense is weaker against the pass than the Bengals, but I can envision a game where the Steelers take control of time of possession and give their defense the rest they’ve enjoyed in the previous two wins by getting behind Bell.

The alternative is to allow Ben Roethlisberger to be the “old cowboy” and gunslinger we thought he would be this season. I think that’s a dangerous idea against a weaker pass defense, as it risks giving Detroit more time on the clock and allows them to potentially put the Steelers in third-and-long situations.

Therefore, Bell, it’s your time to shine again.