PITTSBURGH — The Colts have been one of the hottest teams in football.

They have won four consecutive games and are 7-1 overall, and there is a very good argument to be made that they are the best team in the NFL.

Daniel Jones has gone from castoff, scrap heap, retread quarterback guy to the best story in football. He was basically thrown out by the Giants and left for his career to die, but with the Colts, he has been dominant.

Jones has thrown for 2,062 yards, completed 71% of his passes and has 13 touchdown passes and only three interceptions. He is without a doubt in the conversation for MV,P and he has a chance to be the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year.

He is in large part responsible for the Colts’ juggernaut offense, which is mauling opposing defenses and making them all look silly. The Colts rank first in points per game (33.8) and total yards per game (393.3) and they are sixth in both passing (250 yards per game) and rushing (134.4 ypg).

Clearly Jones is driving the bus, but he also has a lot of help from the NFL’s leading rusher, Jonathan Taylor, whose 12 rushing touchdowns lead the NFL by a wide margin. Michael Pittman Jr. and rookie tight end sensation Tyler Warren have given Jones two excellent receiving threats.

And as much as the skill position players get accolades, there is a sentiment among those who observe the Colts the closest that the offensive line is the best unit they have on the field. The line is an excellent mix of veterans and younger players entering their prime, and they are creating huge holes for Taylor.

The offense looks unstoppable, and the play-calling looks like the offensive staff is playing chess while everyone else plays checkers. They have scored 29 points or more in all of their games except for one, and 31 points or more in six of their seven wins.

On Sunday they will come into Acrisure Stadium to face a Steelers defense that has gotten shredded by Joe Flacco and the Bengals and Jordan Love and the Packers in the last two weeks.

The Steelers have looked lost on defense the last two games. They couldn’t pressure either quarterback, they couldn’t stop the run, they couldn’t hold either team to fewer than 33 points.

Against the Bengals, they failed to hold a lead in the last minute, and then against the Packers they gave up 21 fourth-quarter points and at one point allowed Love to complete 13 passes in a row.

This is setting up to be a massacre of epic proportions and a game the Colts should win easily. They should be able to run all over the Steelers’ defense, and Jones and his receivers should play pitch and catch like it is a 7-on-7 drill.

There is almost no logical argument or reason to believe the Steelers, who are only 2.5-point underdogs, have a chance of stopping this Colts offense and winning the game.

The secondary is going to be without DeShon Elliott, and he has proven to be an important cog in a unit that is seemingly held together by duct tape.

Joey Porter Jr. has not had a great season so far. Jalen Ramsey appears to be a step slow. Darius Slay Jr. looks like it might be time for him to retire. And they just traded for Kyle Dugger off New England’s scrap heap and are hoping he can actually play this week.

It is a formula for a disaster for the Steelers and seems like stealing money, as the Colts should by all rights win by double digits.

All of that being said, I think the Steelers will win this game.

I wish I could give all of you analytics nerds some sort of statistical reasoning, but I really don’t have one other than to say that Mike Tomlin’s teams seem to thrive in these spots.

Think about it. Just about everyone has written the Steelers off in this game and believe the team might even be cooked. And that is generally when Tomlin is able to rally the troops and the stars shine bright and make play after play en route to a win.

That is going to happen again Sunday, as I think the Colts are due for a letdown and the Steelers are desperate for a win. T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Alex Highsmith and Co. are all angry and motivated, and that’s generally when they do their best work.

I think there is another thing in play here, as the Colts defense is ranked No. 23 in the NFL and that means the Steelers offense should have a chance to put up big numbers. I don’t know that they will need to score 35 points or more to win, but they have a chance to do so.

And that is something that is important to keep in mind as the Steelers probably won’t shut down the Colts. But they don’t need to. All they need to do is make enough big plays — similar to the win over the Patriots — to keep the Colts from rolling to 40-plus points.

This is all “gut feeling” type stuff, and we know how that all works out. But I have seen it far too many times from Tomlin’s teams to not think it could be in play. If it isn’t in play and the Steelers end up getting smoked by the Colts, that probably leads to another discussion about whether Tomlin is still the right man for the job.

All the numbers and all the reasoning and all the logical thoughts suggest that the Colts will beat the Steelers easily. And that is precisely why I am going to say it: Steelers 27, Colts 24.

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