The Cincinnati Bengals hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football turned out to be a meeting between the top two AFC North teams. Even though the Bengals were 2-4 coming in. The 4-1 Steelers came in looking to create a huge cushion on the rest of the division early in the season.
The unofficial Unc Bowl between Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers, who combined to be 81 years old, figured to have plenty of firepower. Ja’Marr Chase and Flacco caught fire on Sunday, and the Bengals’ defense was terrible without Trey Hendrickson, who had a back injury.
But who would come away with the early victory on Thursday Night Football?
The Steelers started the game with the ball. They pretty effortlessly moved the ball down the field after Rodgers connected with DK Metcalf over DJ Turner for 39 yards on third down on their own 30-yard line. From there, the defense got gashed by a few run plays before Rodgers hit Jonnu Smith for a 10-yard touchdown to build an early lead.
After a few drives with no real offense happening, Pittsburgh put together another quality drive. It will probably sound like we are beating a dead horse, but the Cincinnati defensive line just got no pressure most of the drive. A running touchdown was called back, and a “tush push” conversion was negated with a false start that led them to settle for a field goal.
That is when it became all Bengals, though. Flacco caught fire, but the real igniter was Chase Brown breaking off a 27-yard run to start the drive. Flacco hit Chase on a slant for what was initially called a touchdown, but it was called back on review as he never really secured it before the ball was dislodged when he hit the ground. That was okay, because the next play, he absolutely roasted Jalen Ramsey on a fade route where he was even interfered with. Chase gets his touchdown, and the Bengals draw closer with the score 10-7.
It did not take long for the offense to get back on the field. The first play of the Steelers’ next drive, Rodgers fired one deep for Metcalf, but Turner and Jordan Battle were both closer to the pass, and Battle ended up with the pick.
Brown started the drive off again, ripping off a huge run, this time 37 yards, and Flacco hit Higgins in stride on a slant. Higgins did the rest by breaking several tackles on his way to a 29-yard touchdown to take the lead with just under three minutes left in the half.
Rodgers and the offense made it into Bengals’ territory on the next drive. Turner made an incredible play, muscling the ball away from Metcalf (with a hat tip to Geno Stone for laying a pretty big hit on the receiver at the same time. Turner’s interception gave the offense the ball again with 40 seconds left near midfield. Flacco and company managed to turn that opportunity into a field goal before halftime to increase their lead to 17-10 over the Steelers.
Cincinnati started with the ball. They came out with a long, methodical drive that took up seven minutes. Flacco was dealing yet again, mostly to Chase, even with a fourth-down conversion inside the 10-yard line. The Bengals ultimately end up settling for a field goal on a drive to increase their lead to two scores.
The Steelers responded on the very next drive. They rediscovered the running game as Jaylen Warren gashed the defense for 37 yards to get Pittsburgh in striking distance. The Bengals forced the Steelers into a 3rd-and-18 (essentially, they could have gotten a first down at the goal line), and they allowed Pat Freiermuth to catch a 19-yard touchdown in the middle of the end zone. A real gut punch to pull within a field goal.
Flacco was not to be outdone. He hit Andrei Iosivas, who came into this game after seriously struggling this year to find his way in this offense, for a 37-yard pass down the seam after the safety went with Chase. That helped lead to Flacco finding Noah Fant for a five-yard touchdown to increase the lead back to 10 to start the fourth quarter. It was Flacco’s third touchdown on the night.
It took one play for Warren to break numerous tackles and position the Steelers in Bengals’ territory. From there, the defense missed several more tackles and let tight ends get open for easy throws on third downs before Rodgers got Darnell Washington a touchdown catch 2 yards out to bring it back to within three with just 11 minutes left. That was also Rodgers’ third touchdown pass.
A 25-yard catch and run by Fant. A 14-yard play by Chase on third down to break a tackle to keep the drive going. The drive was killed by a holding penalty that forced them to settle for a field goal to make it 30-24 with just under seven minutes left.
After the Steelers went three-and-out, the Bengals gained one first down after starting inside their own 20 off a Flacco keeper. It wasn’t enough as the Steelers scored a 68-yard touchdown as Freiermuth got lost behind the defense. An absolutely terrible play as Rodgers was able to easily avoid any rush that got in the same zip code as him.
Fortunately, there was still 2:21 left, and Cincinnati had two timeouts down just one point.
The Steelers’ defense just had no answer for Chase all night. He had two catches for 33 yards on the drive, and then Higgins caught a go-ball where he easily could have made it in for a touchdown, but instead, he slid down. That allowed the Bengals to take some knees to run down almost all of the clock.
Evan McPherson absolutely drilled the chip shot to give them the 33-31 lead and the win.
This win was a huge one. It keeps the Steelers in a catchable position. It also leaves the Bengals just a game under .500, which just feels like an impossibility after the last four weeks. It also just always feels good to beat Pittsburgh on prime time.
This was a true coming-out party for Flacco, and this offense was only 10 days after the trade. Now the team gets a mini bye week to rest up and really try and work their way into a position to get to 4-4 and in a serious position for at least the Wild Card.
This game came with serious issues. The defense still looks like hell when they aren’t getting turnovers, and without Hendrickson, they were barely able to get near Rodgers.
The good news is Chase is still the best wide receiver in the NFL, and he deserves so much credit after catching 16 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown on the night.
Now it is a matter of whether they can string together a few wins against some teams that have been struggling, like the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears, the next two weeks before going into Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers again.