Bengals maintain playoff hopes alive, whereas Steelers lose fourth straight

PITTSBURGH — The Cincinnati Bengals did their half to remain within the playoff dialog. In a must-win recreation, Cincinnati held off a late push to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-17 on a frigid Saturday night time.

Despite being in management for a lot of the contest, missed alternatives compelled the Bengals to guard and protect a detailed lead within the fourth quarter. But Cincinnati did sufficient to win its fifth straight recreation to shut the common season.

If the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins lose Sunday, Cincinnati (9-8) could have the seventh and remaining playoff seed within the AFC.

The Steelers (10-7) are already within the playoffs. But their type heading into the postseason leaves lots to be desired. Pittsburgh ended the common season with 4 consecutive losses and would be the fifth or sixth seed within the AFC, relying on whether or not the Los Angeles Chargers win Sunday.

It is not going to be a enjoyable 18 hours for the Bengals. They must stress about different outcomes Sunday whereas pondering missed possibilities to win earlier within the season. But it is a state of affairs that did not appear attainable 5 weeks in the past.

What we realized in regards to the quarterback: With the season on the road, Joe Burrow made certain he was on the sector when his workforce wanted him most. After taking a tough sack within the third quarter, Burrow was briefly evaluated within 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 pill. In the subsequent collection, he made key throws to receiver Ja’Marr Chase and tight finish Tanner Hudson on a drive that padded Cincinnati’s result in 19-7 with 11:02 left.

Biggest gap within the recreation plan: The Bengals had an opportunity to place the Steelers away early, however regardless of deep journeys into Pittsburgh territory, Cincinnati did not capitalize. The Bengals scored on one in every of their first three pink zone appearances. On the 2 drives that stalled and resulted in discipline targets, Cincinnati received inside Pittsburgh’s 10-yard line. That allowed the Steelers to hold round regardless of a lackluster offensive exhibiting.

Most stunning efficiency: The final time the Bengals performed the Steelers, Cincinnati’s protection was embarrassed. But lots can change in 5 weeks. After surrendering 520 yards within the first assembly, Cincinnati’s protection was considerably improved Saturday, permitting 193 whole yards. Through the primary three quarters, Cincinnati gave up 91 yards, with a mere 33 coming by way of the air. It signified the Bengals’ defensive turnaround that enabled the late-season successful streak to maintain Cincinnati’s playoff hopes alive. — Ben Baby

With the Steelers trailing by two factors with two minutes to play, greater 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 lastly proven indicators of life towards the motivated Bengals, who have been clawing to keep away from playoff elimination. But that final gasp proved to be a dying rattle because the Steelers dropped the regular-season finale, and Russell Wilson‘s fourth-down move try went off the fingertips of tight finish Pat Freiermuth.

With the loss, the Steelers turned the third workforce in NFL historical past to enter the playoffs on a four-game shedding streak. The final workforce was the 1999 Detroit Lions. Despite their inconsistent offensive play, the Steelers produced a fast late landing to drag inside 5 factors. A defensive stand, adopted by a heads-up muffed punt restoration by defensive deal with Connor Heyward gave the Steelers a brief discipline with the chance to take the lead.

But the offense could not maintain the momentum from its earlier drive, managing solely two yards in six performs earlier than settling for a long-range Chris Boswell discipline purpose.

Now, the Steelers have to attend till the end result of Sunday’s video games to search out out their playoff vacation spot.

Two phrases: Junior varsity. Coach Mike Tomlin typically describes subpar performances by his workforce as “junior varsity,” and Saturday night time’s loss was the epitome of that. While the protection restricted the Bengals to 1 landing on 4 pink zone journeys, it could not get off the sector. The Bengals almost doubled the Steelers’ time of possession (37:49 to 22:00). When the offense did get the ball, it struggled to maintain a drive for the fourth week in a row till late.

Pivotal play: For an offense that desires to outline itself by physicality and bullying opponents within the trenches, the Steelers’ incapacity to achieve a yard on back-to-back performs with lower than a minute remaining within the first half was disastrous. Not solely did Wilson come up quick on a third-and-1 sneak, however working again Jaylen Warren failed on fourth down. The turnover on downs gave the Bengals the ball on a brief discipline, and Cade York kicked a discipline purpose for a 13-7 halftime lead.

Biggest gap in recreation plan: Despite per week of additional defensive walk-throughs and conversations about fixing busted coverages that led to large video games by Kansas City and Baltimore tight ends, the Steelers nonetheless struggled to cowl the Bengals tight ends as they accounted for 102 of Burrow’s 277 passing yards. Burrow accomplished 8 of 10 targets to Mike Gesicki for 68 yards, all 4 targets to Drew Sample for 14, plus one every to Tanner Hudson and Cam Grandy.

Silver lining: At 35 years outdated and coming off a groin damage that considerably impacted his 2023 season, Heyward completed his 14th NFL common season with one other sturdy efficiency. 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 additionally recorded eight sacks this season. — Brooke Pryor