The Pittsburgh Steelers arrived at Paycor Stadium riding a 3-game winning streak and left dropping a 33-31 decision to the Cincinnati Bengals. The loss left Steelers Nation with two bitter pills to swallow:
- Pittsburgh’s 45-year losing streak in Thursday Night division road games continues
- The Steelers will not win the AFC North in 2025 in a walk
This was a game defined by unexpected twists, both of which might reveal a little insight into these 2025 Steelers. One of those twists is amounted to a pleasant surprise, while the other is outright alarming.
Neither Payton Wilson nor can stop Ja’Marr Chase. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
20 Minutes of Meeting Expectations
The Cincinnati Bengals were reeling. They’d lost three straight. Their offensive line was supposedly weak, their defense soft.
In contrast, the Steelers had won three. They were they looking sharper each week. And unlike other winning streaks in the post-Roethlisberger era, the Steelers winning games as opposed finding ways to avoid losing them.
- So the pundits were favoring Pittsburgh.
During the game’s first 20 minutes those pundits looked pretty smart. Cincinnati won the toss, deferred, and Arthur Smith’s offense immediately made them pay in a 9 play drive highlighted by:
Teryl Austin’s defense laid in without mercy. Cam Heyward swallowed Chase Brown on the Bengals first play holding him to two yards. On the next play, Keeanu Benton and T.J. Watt sacked Joe Flacco. Four plays later, Cincinnati punted.
By the time Chris Boswell was splitting the uprights at the 10:31 mark, the expectation was that Mason McCormick false start penalty that scuttled the Steelers 4th and 1 attempt would be nothing more than a footnote in route to a lopsided victory.
But “Unexpected” waiting in the wings, and looking to strike.
Live by the Turnover, Die by the Turnover?
Throughout this decade, turnovers have been a stable of the Steelers formula for winning. Indeed, the ‘23 defense had an uncanny knack for securing a turnover exactly when the Steelers needed it.
Four elements make turnovers (potentially) transformational events:
1. They rob an offense of a scoring opportunity
2. They shift that scoring opportunity to the opponents
3. They can knock the offending team off balance
4. They can energize a losing team, shifting momentum
Aaron Rodgers threw two interceptions in the 2nd quarter. The Cincinnati Bengals took command of the game by exploiting all four of the above elements. Bengals defensive back Jordan Battle’s fingerprints were still fresh on the ball when Cincinnati unleashed…
DeShon Elliott chases Chase Brown. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Chase Brown, who instantly gashed the Steelers defense for 37 yards. Two plays later, Joe Flacco reached Tee Higgins in the end zone to give Cincinnati the lead.
There were lots of ways a smart analysts could see the Cincinnati Bengals upsetting the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night.
- Precisely none of them featured Chase Brown averaging just under 10 yards a carry.
Teryl Austin and Mike Tomlin found a way to limit Brown, but he’d done his damage – he’d knocked the Steelers defense off balance, opening the door rest of the Bengals offense streamed through.
Do Steelers Have a Secondary? Or Is it a Sieve?
Going into the game Mike Tomlin made no bones about the fact that he and Omar Khan went out and signed Darius Slay and traded for Jalen Ramsey to accompany Joey Porter Jr. and keep pace with Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase.
- To be fair, Jalen Ramsey did force a field goal by batting away end zone pass away from Tee Higgins.
That was good. But outside of that, the Steelers might has well have been fielding Alvoid Mays, Donnell Woolford and Antwon Blake at cornerback with Travis Davis and Scott Shields manning down safety.
Joe Flacco connected with Ja’Marr Chase to put up a Nintendo like 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown. In the rare moments when Flacco failed to find Chase, he hooked up with Higgins, Andrei Iosivas or Noah Fant with unsettling ease.
Tee Higgins runs over Chuck Clark. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Going into the game, the expectation of a 342 yard passing day by Flacco would have indicated either a Bengals blowout or a lot of garbage time glory.
But what no one expected was the shoot out that ensued.
Tight Ends Get Steelers Out of a Tight Spot
Credit Amazon’s Kirk Herbstreit for asking the quiet question out loud after the Steelers feel behind by 10 points midway through the third quarter: “How can the Steelers comeback with this offense?”
Herbstreit wasn’t throwing shade when he observed that D.K. Metcalf was the offense’s only legitimate receiver and then openly dismissed Scotty Miller and Roman Wilson. Arthur Smith certainly didn’t hear Herbstreit’s comments from the booth, but he certainly pulled an unexpected answer out of his sleeve:
- He unleashed his tight ends.
The proposition that Pittsburgh could use their tight ends to offset a thin depth chart at wide receiver was an iffy one going into the season. But numbers don’t lie:
- Darnell Washington had 3 catches for 2 yards – but one of those was for a touchdown
- Jonnu Smith had 3 grabs for 28 yards and a touchdown
- Previously invisible Pat Freiermuth exploded for 5 catches for 111 yards and 2 TDs
Smith’s tight end-centric passing game might not be sustainable, but for a night it worked against the Bengals.
In fact, it might have worked a little too well….
Thou Shalt Not… Run?
The Steelers losing streak in Thursday Night division games began on December 4th, 1980 with a 6-0 loss to the Houston Oilers in the Astrodome. The game was proverbially ‘past my bed time” so I didn’t get to see it.
But I remember my older brother telling me in the morning before school, “It was a tight game all the way.” When I heard the 6-0 score I asked, “Why didn’t they just throw it to Swann?” “They tried to get it to Swann but couldn’t,” my brother explianed.
Later that night I saw highlights on Washington’s Channel 9 local news, Maureen Bunyan* confirmed that “…and there were no Bradshaw to Swann game saves” and that the loss locked the Steelers out of the AFC Central race, likely meaning no One for the Thumb.
That memory introduces a bit of irony because Lynn Swann’s number was 88 which Pat Freiermuth wears today.
Number 88 featured prominently on Pittsburgh’s final possession, but 30 is the number coaches should have focused on.
- Jaylen Warren had run like a back begging to take over a game.
Yet, Arthur Smith went with an empty set on first down with just over 2 minutes left, targeting Darnell Washington for naught. Smith still could have called a running play on second down. Instead he remained in an empty set and Broderick Jones got called for holding on second down.
Calling a pass play on 2nd and 20 made sense. But it also had unintended consequences.
Pat Freiermuth stiff arms Jordan Battle en route to the end zone. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
And there, Aaron Rodgers found a wide-open Pat Freiermuth who raced 68 yards to the end zone putting Pittsburgh ahead. For the moment.
- There was still 2:21 seconds left on the clock – far too much time.
Joe Flacco did what he’d done all evening – play catch Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, storming down the Pittsburgh’s 7 at a leisurely pace. There, they took several knees to kill the clock and kicked a field goal, leaving the Steelers with just 7 seconds for one desperate Hail Mary.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is you simultaneously end a 3 game regular season winning streak and continue a 45 year Thursday Night Football losing streak.
*DC area residents from that era will note that this of course makes no logical sense. Maureen Bunyan was the co-anchor while Glenn Brenner did sports. But that’s how my memory tells the story. So that’s how we tell it here.
