PITTSBURGH — The Cincinnati Bengals did their part to stay in the playoff conversation. In a must-win game, Cincinnati held off a late push to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-17 on a frigid Saturday night.
Despite being in control for most of the contest, missed opportunities forced the Bengals to protect and preserve a close lead in the fourth quarter. But Cincinnati did enough to win its fifth straight game to close the regular season.
If the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins lose Sunday, Cincinnati (9-8) will have the seventh and final playoff seed in the AFC.
The Steelers (10-7) are already in the playoffs. But their form heading into the postseason leaves a lot to be desired. Pittsburgh ended the regular season with four consecutive losses and will be the fifth or sixth seed in the AFC, depending on whether the Los Angeles Chargers win Sunday.
It will not be a fun 18 hours for the Bengals. They will have to stress about other results Sunday while pondering missed chances to win earlier in the season. But it’s a situation that didn’t seem possible five weeks ago.
What we learned about the quarterback: With the season on the line, Joe Burrow made sure he was on the field when his team needed him most. After taking a hard sack in the third quarter, Burrow was briefly evaluated in the medical tent. But after an examination, he walked out of the tent, put a black glove on his throwing hand and picked up a tablet. In the next series, he made key throws to receiver Ja’Marr Chase and tight end Tanner Hudson on a drive that padded Cincinnati’s lead to 19-7 with 11:02 left.
Biggest hole in the game plan: The Bengals had a chance to put the Steelers away early, but despite deep trips into Pittsburgh territory, Cincinnati didn’t capitalize. The Bengals scored on one of their first three red zone appearances. On the two drives that stalled and resulted in field goals, Cincinnati got within Pittsburgh’s 10-yard line. That allowed the Steelers to hang around despite a lackluster offensive showing.
Most surprising performance: The last time the Bengals played the Steelers, Cincinnati’s defense was embarrassed. But a lot can change in five weeks. After surrendering 520 yards in the first meeting, Cincinnati’s defense was significantly improved Saturday, allowing 193 total yards. Through the first three quarters, Cincinnati gave up 91 yards, with a mere 33 coming through the air. It signified the Bengals’ defensive turnaround that enabled the late-season winning streak to keep Cincinnati’s playoff hopes alive. — Ben Baby
With the Steelers trailing by two points with two minutes to play, more than 65,000 clad in black and gold at Acrisure Stadium belted “Don’t Stop Believin” in a fervent stadium-wide prayer.
After three-and-a-half uninspiring quarters, the Steelers had finally shown signs of life against the motivated Bengals, who were clawing to avoid playoff elimination. But that last gasp proved to be a death rattle as the Steelers dropped the regular-season finale, and Russell Wilson’s fourth-down pass attempt went off the fingertips of tight end Pat Freiermuth.
With the loss, the Steelers became the third team in NFL history to enter the playoffs on a four-game losing streak. The last team was the 1999 Detroit Lions. Despite their inconsistent offensive play, the Steelers produced a quick late touchdown to pull within five points. A defensive stand, followed by a heads-up muffed punt recovery by defensive tackle Connor Heyward gave the Steelers a short field with the opportunity to take the lead.
But the offense couldn’t sustain the momentum from its previous drive, managing only two yards in six plays before settling for a long-range Chris Boswell field goal.
Now, the Steelers have to wait until the outcome of Sunday’s games to find out their playoff destination.
Two words: Junior varsity. Coach Mike Tomlin often describes subpar performances by his team as “junior varsity,” and Saturday night’s loss was the epitome of that. While the defense limited the Bengals to one touchdown on four red zone trips, it couldn’t get off the field. The Bengals nearly doubled the Steelers’ time of possession (37:49 to 22:00). When the offense did get the ball, it struggled to sustain a drive for the fourth week in a row until late.
Pivotal play: For an offense that wants to define itself by physicality and bullying opponents in the trenches, the Steelers’ inability to gain a yard on back-to-back plays with less than a minute remaining in the first half was disastrous. Not only did Wilson come up short on a third-and-1 sneak, but running back Jaylen Warren failed on fourth down. The turnover on downs gave the Bengals the ball on a short field, and Cade York kicked a field goal for a 13-7 halftime lead.
Biggest hole in game plan: Despite a week of extra defensive walk-throughs and conversations about fixing busted coverages that led to big games by Kansas City and Baltimore tight ends, the Steelers still struggled to cover the Bengals’ tight ends as they accounted for 102 of Burrow’s 277 passing yards. Burrow completed 8 of 10 targets to Mike Gesicki for 68 yards, all four targets to Drew Sample for 14, plus one each to Tanner Hudson and Cam Grandy.
Silver lining: At 35 years old and coming off a groin injury that significantly impacted his 2023 season, Heyward finished his 14th NFL regular season with another strong performance. On Saturday, he had a season-high three tipped passes, giving him 11 passes defended this season. That mark leads all defensive tackles, and he also recorded eight sacks this season. — Brooke Pryor
