Ben Child
Brooke Pryor
Brooke Pryor
ESPN Employees Author
Beforehand coated the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs for the Kansas Metropolis Star and Oklahoma College for the Oklahoman.
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 evening.
Regardless of being in management for a lot of the evening, missed alternatives early within the recreation compelled the Bengals to guard and protect a detailed lead within the fourth quarter. But it surely did simply sufficient for Cincinnati to win its fifth straight recreation to shut the common season.
If the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins lose on Sunday, Cincinnati (9-8) could have the seventh and ultimate playoff seed within the AFC.
The Steelers (10-7) are already within the playoffs. However their type heading into the postseason leaves quite a bit 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 should stress about different outcomes on Sunday whereas pondering missed possibilities to win earlier within the season. But it surely’s a state of affairs that did not even appear potential 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 group wanted him most. After taking a tough sack within the third quarter, Burrow was briefly evaluated within the medical tent. However after an examination, he walked out of the tent, put a black glove on his throwing hand and picked up the pill. The subsequent sequence, 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 within the fourth quarter.
Greatest 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 could not capitalize. The Bengals scored on considered one of their first three pink zone appearances. On the 2 drives that stalled out and resulted in area objectives, Cincinnati acquired inside Pittsburgh’s 10-yard line. That allowed the Steelers to hold round regardless of a lackluster offensive displaying.
Most shocking efficiency: The final time the Bengals performed the Steelers, Cincinnati’s protection was embarrassed. However quite a bit can change in 5 weeks. After surrendering 520 yards within the first assembly, Cincinnati’s protection was considerably improved Saturday, permitting 193 whole yards. Via the primary three quarters, Cincinnati allowed 91 yards, with a mere 33 coming by the air. It signified the Bengals’ defensive turnaround that enabled the late-season profitable streak to maintain their playoff hopes alive. — Ben Child
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 “Do not Cease Believin'” in a fervent stadium-wide prayer.
After three-and-a-half uninspiring quarters, the Steelers confirmed indicators of life in opposition to a motivated Bengals group, who had been clawing to keep away from playoff elimination. However that final gasp proved to be a demise rattle because the Steelers dropped the regular-season finale to the Bengals 19-17 as Russell Wilson’s fourth-down cross try went off the fingertips of tight finish Pat Freiermuth.
With the loss, the Steelers are the third group in NFL historical past to enter the playoffs on a four-game dropping streak. The final group was the 1999 Detroit Lions. After practically three and a half quarters, the Steelers’ offense briefly wakened with a fast landing drive to tug inside 5 factors. A defensive stand adopted by a heads-up muffed punt restoration by defensive sort out Connor Heyward gave the Steelers a brief area with the chance to take the lead.
However the offense could not maintain the momentum from its earlier drive, managing simply two yards in six performs because it settled for a long-range Chris Boswell area aim. Now, the Steelers have to attend till the 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 group as “junior varsity,” and Saturday evening’s loss was the epitome of that. The protection restricted the Bengals to at least one landing on 4 pink zone journeys, however the protection could not get off the sector, because the Bengals practically doubled the Steelers’ time of possession (37:49-22:00). When the offense did get the ball, it struggled to maintain a drive for the fourth week in a row till displaying late indicators of life.
Pivotal play: For an offense that desires to outline itself by physicality and bullying opponents within the trenches, the Steelers’ lack of ability to achieve a yard on back-to-back performs with lower than a minute left within the first half was disastrous. Not solely did Wilson come up quick on a third-and-1 sneak, however operating again Jaylen Warren failed on fourth down. The turnover on downs gave the Bengals the ball on a brief area, and Cade York kicked a area aim for a 13-7 lead at halftime.
Greatest gap in recreation plan: Regardless of every week of additional defensive walkthroughs and conversations about fixing busts that led to massive video games by Kansas Metropolis 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 Pattern for 14, plus one every to Tanner Hudson and Cam Grandy.
Silver lining: At 35 years previous and coming off a groin damage that considerably impacted his 2023 season, defensive sort out Cam Heyward completed his 14th NFL common season with one other robust efficiency. Heyward 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
