The Bengals (4-8) were coming off their bye and hoping the break would enable them to reset for a strong finish. Instead, they gave up at least 34 points in a third straight game, tying for the longest streak in franchise history to match the 1991 and 2018 teams as the worst stretches on defense.
Pittsburgh quarterback Russell Wilson finished with 414 yards passing and three touchdowns, marking just the third 400-yard game of his decorated career. Burrow still managed 309 yards passing and three touchdowns for Cincinnati, despite his turnovers, which came on a pair of strip sacks and a tipped interception.
After a back-and-forth first half, Joseph Ossai blocked Chris Boswell’s 42-yard field goal attempt the opening drive of the second half, and that could have been a game-changer for the Bengals.
However, Cincinnati settled for a field goal on the ensuing drive, and Pittsburgh (9-3) responded with its fourth touchdown of the day to make it a 10-point game late in the third quarter. The Bengals’ next two possessions ended in an interception and lost fumble, the latter that was returned 21 yards for a touchdown after Payton Wilson recovered the strip-sack on Burrow to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 41-24 with 11:06 left.
Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas caught touchdowns passes in the fourth quarter to try to put the Bengals back in it, but Iosivas’ 3-yard grab came with just 2:39 remaining and they couldn’t recover the onside kick. Pittsburgh was able to close out the game from there.
The first half was cleaner for the Bengals’ offense, but after Cam Taylor-Britt’s 51-yard interception return for a touchdown on the Steelers’ first drive, the defense disappeared. Pittsburgh took advantage of a slew of missed tackles to score touchdowns on its next three drives to keep pace with Cincinnati and eventually gained a lead.
Russell Wilson connected with Pickens on a 17-yard pass for the first one after he stepped over a tackler on his stroll into the endzone, and on the next drive, Wilson found Calvin Austin down the seam, splitting Mike Hilton and Geno Stone for a 23-yard score. Najee Harris scored the third touchdown on a pitch, running it in from 10 yards out untouched.
Cincinnati’s offense did what it had to do to stay in the game, thanks to touchdowns from Chase Brown and a jump pass from Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase, but after Pittsburgh tied the game a third time at 21-21, a Burrow fumble killed the rhythm.
T.J. Watt stripped Burrow from behind as he was scrambling outside, and the Steelers recovered. The Bengals finally got a third-down stop and limited Pittsburgh to a 50-yard field goal from Boswell, but then an unusual false start called on Alex Cappa on fourth-and-1 – after linebacker Elandon Roberts jumped first – forced Cincinnati to punt. Pittsburgh responded with another field goal as time expired to take a 27-21 lead into halftime.
It was the most combined first-half points in an AFC North matchup since the Bengals and Browns put up 48 points in Week 2 of the 2007 season.
The Bengals had tried making a couple of changes during the bye week with Cody Ford replacing Cordell Volson at left guard and Jordan Battle taking Vonn Bell’s starting safety job. Orlando Brown Jr. made his return to left tackle after a fibula/knee injury sidelined him for three games, but none of that seemed to improve the situation.
Cincinnati heads to Dallas for Monday Night Football on Dec. 9 with five games left.
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