Bengals keep playoff hopes alive, Steelers lose fourth straight

PITTSBURGH — The Cincinnati Bengals did their part to get into the playoff conversation. In a must-win game, Cincinnati put on a late push to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-17 on a cold Saturday night.

Despite controlling most of the contest, missed opportunities forced the Bengals to protect and maintain a close lead in the fourth quarter. However, Cincinnati ended the regular season with five straight wins.

If the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins lose Sunday, Cincinnati (9-8) will have the seventh and final playoff seed in the AFC.

The Steelers (10-7) have already made the playoffs. However, their form heading into the postseason leaves much to be desired. Pittsburgh ended the regular season on a four-game losing streak and will be the fifth or sixth seed in the AFC, depending on whether the Los Angeles Chargers win on Sunday.

It won’t be a fun 18 hours for the Bengalis. They will have to stress about other results on Sunday as they ponder the opportunities they missed earlier in the season. However, it is a situation that seemed impossible just five weeks ago.

What we learned about quarterbacks: With the season approaching, Joe Burrow has made sure he’s on the field when his team needs him most. Burrow underwent a brief evaluation in the medical tent after a hard sack in the third quarter. But after completing the examination, he walked out of the tent, put on a black glove on his throwing hand, and picked up a tablet. On the next series, he threw a key to receiver Ja’Marr Chase and tight end Tanner Hudson on a drive that increased Cincinnati’s lead to 19-7 with 11:02 left.

The biggest hole in your game plan: The Bengals had a chance to put the Steelers away early, but despite a deep trip into Pittsburgh territory, Cincinnati failed to capitalize on the opportunity. The Bengals scored in one of their first three red zone appearances. Two drives that resulted in stops and field goals brought Cincinnati within Pittsburgh’s 10-yard line. This allowed the Steelers to hang around despite their lackluster offensive showing.

The most amazing performance: The last time the Bengals played the Steelers, Cincinnati’s defense was embarrassing. But a lot can change in five weeks. After giving up 520 yards in the first meeting, Cincinnati’s defense improved significantly Saturday, allowing 193 total yards. Through the first three quarters, Cincinnati gave up 91 yards and only 33 through the air. That meant a defensive turnaround for the Bengals that enabled a late-season winning streak to keep Cincinnati’s playoff hopes alive. — Am Baby

With the Steelers down by two points with two minutes left in the game, the black and gold-clad crowd of more than 65,000 at Acrisure Stadium prayed fervently, chanting “Don’t Stop Believin” throughout the stadium.

After three and a half boring quarters, the Steelers finally showed signs of life against a motivated Bengals struggling to avoid playoff elimination. But that last gasp turned out to be a death rattle as the Steelers dropped their regular-season finale and Russell Wilson’s fourth-down pass attempt escaped tight end Pat Freiermuth’s fingertips.

With the loss, the Steelers became just the third team in NFL history to make the playoffs with four straight losses. The last team to do so was the Detroit Lions in 1999. Despite inconsistent offensive play, the Steelers pulled within five points with a quick second-half touchdown. A defensive stand followed by a heads-up muffed punt recovery by defensive tackle Connor Heyward gave the Steelers a short field with a chance to take the lead.

However, the offense was unable to maintain the momentum of the previous drive, managing only 2 yards in 6 plays before settling for a long Chris Boswell field goal.

Now the Steelers will have to wait for the results of Sunday’s game to find out their playoff destination.

Two words: Junior National Team. Coach Mike Tomlin often describes his team’s subpar performances as “junior varsity,” and Saturday night’s loss was a classic example of that. The defense limited the Bengals to one touchdown in four red zone trips but couldn’t get them off the field. The Bengals nearly doubled the Steelers’ time of possession (37:49 to 22:00). When the offense got the ball, they had trouble sustaining drives late for the fourth straight week.

Important Plays: For an offense that seeks to define itself by physicality and harassing opponents in the trenches, the Steelers’ inability to gain yardage on consecutive plays with less than a minute left in the first half was disastrous. Not only did Wilson fall short on third-and-1 sneak, but running back Jaylen Warren failed on fourth down. A turnover on downs gave the Bengals the ball on a short field and Cade York kicked a field goal for a 13-7 halftime lead.

The biggest hole in your game plan: Despite a week of extra defensive practice and talks to fix the broken coverage that led to big plays by Kansas City and Baltimore’s tight ends, the Steelers held the Bengals’ tight ends to account for 102 of Burrow’s 277 passing yards. Still struggling to cover. Burrow completed eight of his 10 targets for 68 yards, all four to Drew Sample for 14, and one each to Tanner Hudson and Cam Grandy.

Silver lining: Heyward, who suffered a groin injury that significantly impacted his 2023 season at age 35, completed his 14th NFL regular season with another strong performance. On Saturday, he recorded a season-high three tipped passes and has 11 passes defended this season. That mark leads all defensive tackles, and he also has eight sacks this season. — Brooke Pryor