It’s the most bittersweet time of the year for NFL football fans.

On one hand, we’ve got a great Super Bowl matchup to look forward to. Next weekend’s clash between the Steelers and Packers has the lowest point spread (Green Bay is favoured by 2.5) in a Super Bowl since Super Bowl XVII in 1983, when the Redskins upset the Dolphins as two-point underdogs.

On the other hand, once the confetti rains down on the winning team next weekend, we won’t see any more NFL football until next fall. Those sacred Sundays on the couch could soon turn into afternoon trips to Bed, Bath and Beyond and other feminine domains.

So we might as well make the best of it by making a bit of money on the final game of the NFL season. And we like the Steelers to make that happen.

When the better team is catching points on a neutral field, we’ll take that any time. Tack on the fact that the better team has more big-game experience, and we like the bet even more.

Pittsburgh is shooting for its third Super Bowl championship in six years. That’s pretty incredible in a salary cap league with as much parity as the NFL. Tom Brady and the Patriots get all the attention, but Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers just get it done.

In fact, Big Ben is an amazing 9-2 all-time in the playoffs. To put that in perspective, Peyton Manning has a career mark of 9-10 in the postseason. Roethlisberger isn’t the flashiest or prettiest quarterback out there. But, when he’s not busy grappling women in bars, he’s pretty damn effective at winning games.

The rest of his teammates aren’t too shabby, either. A large part of this year’s team has also been around for those previous Super Bowl triumphs as well, including core players James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Hines Ward and Rashard Mendenhall. The Steelers won’t be overwhelmed by the bright lights in Dallas.

Let’s also remember that as good as Green Bay’s defence was this year, the Steelers have been even better. Pittsburgh allowed 44 less yards per game than the Pack.

That Steelers run defence is going to make things really tough on Green Bay’s running game, which struggled all year until improving in the playoffs. Pittsburgh won’t have to stack the box to stop James Starks, allowing them to assign extra defenders against the pass. Aaron Rodgers has been sensational this season, but it’ll be pretty hard for him to succeed if the Pack’s offence is one-dimensional.

We give all the credit in the world to the Packers for their run to the Super Bowl. At one point this year, they were even a longshot to make the playoffs, but they won their last few regular season games and then won three straight road games to reach the big game.

We even like the Packers. It’s hard not to cheer for a good guy like Rodgers, who’s done a nice job filling the shoes of the legendary Brett Favre in Green Bay.

But we just don’t think they’re as good as the Steelers.

You can bet Pittsburgh at +2 or +2.5 on the point spread, but the +120 or higher you can get on the moneyline might be an even better idea.