The prime-time win is only the fifth under Taylor and the team’s second divisional win in his tenure, but tops the others in terms of significance given the history between the rivals and the adversity Cincinnati had to overcome to get the victory.
Here are five takeaways from the win:
1. Game-planning around Finley
With Brandon Allen dealing with a knee injury, the Bengals started third-string quarterback Ryan Finley, who hadn’t yet won a game in three previous starts in 2019 and struggled coming off the bench three times this season.
It was clear from the start, Taylor was going to play it safe. The Bengals ran the ball five straight times before Finley attempted a pass, and they ended up running the ball 41 times on 56 plays, accounting for 152 yards.
Finley’s 23-yard read-option touchdown run gave the Bengals a 24-10 cushion early in the fourth quarter and brought the momentum back after Pittsburgh had scored 10 points on two drives to open the half. Finley finished with 10 carries for 47 yards, while Gio Bernard had a season-high 25 carries for 83 yards and one touchdown. Bernard, who had fumbled the first snap against Dallas, also scored on a 14-yard touchdown pass.
“That’s kind of how the game unfolded, with what they were giving us with 11 personnel,” Finley said. “Zac, Brian (Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan), and Jimmy (Bengals offensive line coach Jim Turner) did a really good job of seeing what personnel groupings they were giving us, because the Steelers like to change it up. We had a good menu of runs versus all those personnels. We executed them really well.”
2. First-half lead crucial
The Bengals jumped out to a surprising 17-0 halftime lead and never trailed.
Ben Roethlisberger, who is now 24-8 against the Bengals, got off to an unusually slow start, failing to move the Steelers’ offense for a first down on five consecutive drives to open the game. Pittsburgh hasn’t done that in at least 20 years. He threw for 19 yards in the first half, and the Steelers finished with 40 yards of offense while getting shut out the first two quarters.
The Bengals’ defense had something to do with that, getting three takeaways in the first half. The first turnover came when Roethlisberger fumbled an exchange to begin his third drive. Josh Bynes recovered for Cincinnati, giving the offense the ball at the Steelers’ 20-yard line and setting up a Seibert field goal to get the scoring started. Later in the first quarter, Vonn Bell forced a fumble with a hard hit on JuJu Smith-Schuster near midfield, and Jordan Evans recovered to put the ball on the Pittsburgh 38-yard line. Bernard capped the short drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.
The next drive, Mackensie Alexander intercepted Roethlisberger and was hit out of bounds for an extra 15 yards at the end of his 21-yard return. Cincinnati moved 26 yards on three plays for a 17-0 lead.
“We were just going out there doing our jobs, reading our keys, having fun, letting go,” Bell said. “Don’t worry about making mistakes just go around flying around making plays. Everything else going to take care of itself. We just have to believe in ourselves. We have a relentless group and we stepped up to the plate tonight.”
3. Third-quarter struggles continue
The Bengals ended the first half with a three-and-out and then had a trio of them to start the second half, while Pittsburgh got things going with 10 points on its first two drives. Cincinnati hasn’t scored points in the third quarter since Week 7, but fortunately it wasn’t costly this time.
After the first punt, Pittsburgh needed just four plays to finish off a 67-yard drive with Roethlisberger connecting with Chase Claypool on a 37-yard pass before finding Diontae Johnson for a 23-yard touchdown.
Cincinnati’s defense limited Pittsburgh to a field goal after getting to the 7-yard line the next drive, and Josh Bynes came up with a stop on third-and-1 with about three minutes left in the third quarter to swing things back for the Bengals. Finley scored on the ensuing drive after the punt, and Pittsburgh’s touchdown with 5:32 left was the closest the Steelers could get, trailing 24-17.
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The Bengals punted the next drive and four straight passes by Big Ben fell incomplete to give the Bengals the ball at the Pittsburgh 24-yard line with 1:52 left. Austin Seibert sealed the win with a 33-yard field goal with 12 seconds left.
“We had some opportunities there in the third (quarter), but we didn’t quite connect on them for some big plays,” Taylor said. “We finally got flowing there in the running game. … We had a couple of those zone-read looks where Ryan was able to keep the ball and get some big plays. We were just able to finish the drive the right way with the touchdown. That was critical at that point time, because they were starting to grab some of the momentum with the points they scored in the third quarter, so that was a great response there by the offense.”
4. Playing with energy
Bell’s hit on Smith-Schuster seemed to energize the defense.
Smith-Schuster had drawn some attention for dancing on the opponents’ logo in recent weeks, and Bell had been asked about this ritual earlier in the week, calling it disrespectful and saying how the Bengals just needed to go out and “hit him and let him know where he stands.”
That’s exactly what Bell did. Smith-Schuster had made a TikTok of himself dancing and spiking the ball on the Bengals logo at midfield before the game Monday.
“I seen 19,” Bell said when asked about the hit. “But uh, no. We had a call that freed me up, reading Ben’s eyes and just saying, ‘Man, go make a play.’ We were talking about it on the sideline. It just happened. …Just made the play when my number was called.”
Bynes said that play gave the team “so much momentum, so much energy” that he felt a need to address the defense after the Bengals extended their lead. He reminded his teammates to stay physical and not let up, so they could finish what they started.
The physicality of the game and some of the trash-talking that could be seen, like after Alexander was hit out of bounds on his interception return, made the rivalry feel more like it had in the past when games were more competitive.
Credit: Bryan Woolston
Credit: Bryan Woolston
5. Overcoming the odds
The Bengals were big-time underdogs going into the game, especially with Finley starting, but it wasn’t just Burrow, Allen and Joe Mixon missing. They also were without Tyler Boyd for most of the game, as he played 11 snaps before hitting the back of his head on the ground trying to make a play on an underthrown deep ball into double coverage in the first quarter.
Cincinnati also hasn’t done well in primetime historically, and the 11-game losing streak to the Steelers didn’t seem likely to end at a time when the offense had been struggling since Burrow’s injury. They hadn’t won a game since before the Week 9 bye.
“These are things I’ve been talking about all week that just haven’t shown up, and it’s as resilient of a group as I’ve ever been around,” Taylor said. “They never stop believing in each other — never stopped believing in what we’re asking them to do — and it showed up on a huge stage tonight against a division rival. Again, I can’t say enough about how proud I am of the coaches, the players, the staff — everyone who has hung in there together. We’re on week 15, and what a great night for those guys.”
Finley said the win was good for his confidence, personally, after coming off the bench in all his previous appearances this season and getting bumped behind Allen in the depth chart. Having a full week of practice with the first-team offense was helpful, he said, but most importantly it was good for the team to get a win.
“It’s exciting,” Finley said. “I’m obviously very happy, but very happy for everyone involved too. The faces of everyone after in the locker room postgame — it’s fun. We hadn’t had too many postgame locker rooms like that recently, and it’s always fun to get a win. Even better beating the Steelers on Monday night. I’m just happy for everyone involved.”
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