The Bengals took the field for the first time following Joe Burrow’s season ending injury. Their playoff chances took a big hit the second the injury occurred. But still clinging to life, the Bengals were hoping to catch some momentum with Jake Browning at the helm, as they took on their AFC North rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Both teams started the game off with a punt, before the Steelers offence got going on their second drive. A 29 yard pass from Pickett to Freiermuth on 3rd & 13 was a killer on this drive, as Pittsburgh was suddenly pretty deep into Cincinnati territory. But as we have often seen this season, the Bengals defence has a certain timelines about them. Before damage could be done, Zach Carter forced a fumble, which was recovered by DJ Turner. This coming just one play after Turner broke up what looked like a sure TD.
After the Bengals punted, the Steelers opened the scoring on their next drive. Big plays were an issue again, with Harris powering forward for a 20 yard run, and Johnson making a 39 yard catch not long after. Approaching the redzone, however, the Steelers drive stalled, and they were forced to kick a 41 yard field goal. 3-0 Steelers.
The Bengals answered with a quick 4 play TD drive. It was such a short drive largely due to Trayveon Williams’ 46 yard return, which set up the offence at the Cincinnati 47. A couple plays in, Browning’s pass could have been picked off, but it was instead tipped up, right to Ja’Marr Chase who’s catch and run resulted in a 31 yard gain. Not long after, Browning, off the under centre play action, found Drew Sample for an 11 yard TD. 7-3 Bengals. Neither team could get much going offensively for the rest of the quarter, and the score remained this way heading into the half.
Out of the half, the Bengals went on a longer drive. A 16 yard completion to Iosivas got things going, and a string of shorter pickups got them into Pittsburgh territory. After a 25 yard completion to Chase, the offence was set up at the Pittsburgh 21 yard line. But a few plays later, disaster struck. Browning made an ill advised pass into the flat, looking for Chase. It was picked off. At that point, the momentum swung.
Pittsburgh went on a 14 play TD drive off of the turnover, knocking almost 8 minutes off of the clock in the process. Outside of a 15 yard run by Warren on the first play of the drive, the Bengals didn’t give up chunk yardage. Instead, they allowed the Steelers offence to methodically pick them apart. The Steelers worked their way down to the Bengals 5 yard line, before Harris ran it in for the TD. 10-7 Steelers.
After their TD, the Steelers went on two consecutive field goal drives to extend their lead, and make the score 16-7. The Bengals then strung together a few plays to get into field goal range, with a 39 yard screen to Mixon accounting for most of the drive’s yards. McPherson kicked a 47 yard field goal to make it a one score game, but his onside kick attempt was unsuccessful, allowing Pittsburgh to run out the clock. 16-10 final.
The Bengals fall to 5-6 on the year. Though still in the hunt for a wildcard playoff spot, the odds are getting slimmer with each passing week. Cincinnati will try to right the ship next week in their matchup against the Jaguars on Monday Night Football.
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