Monday night stunner: Bengals upset first-place Steelers

The Bengals (3-10-1) had not beaten Pittsburgh (11-3) since 2015, and it didn’t seem likely the streak would end on Finley’s watch. Finley, 0-3 as a starter in 2019, replaced injured Brandon Allen, who stepped in after Joe Burrow suffered a season-ending ACL and MCL tear in Week 11. Allen suffered a knee injury against Dallas and did not practice all week.

Cincinnati, which also lost Tyler Boyd to a concussion in the first quarter, took advantage of an unusually bad start by the Pittsburgh offense to build a 17-0 halftime lead with the help of two takeaways. While Roethlisberger rallied the Steelers in the second half, Finley did just enough to make the lead hold for good.

Finley’s 23-yard touchdown run on a perfectly executed read-option gave the Bengals an important 24-10 cushion with 11:21 left before the Steelers made things interesting late.

Benny Snell cut the margin down to seven points on a 1-yard touchdown run after Bengals cornerback William Jackson was penalized for pass interference on a third-down pass that Diontae Johnson had no chance of catching. The Bengals then managed just one first down before punting, and the Steelers got the ball on their own 24-yard line with 2:17 left.

Roethlisberger’s fourth-down pass sailed past James Washington, and the Bengals took over at the Pittsburgh 24-yard line and sealed the win with a 33-yard field goal from Austin Seibert with 12 seconds left. The Bengals had opened the second half with a trio of three-and-outs, while Pittsburgh got 10 points out of its first two drives.

Pittsburgh certainly made it easier on the Bengals in the first half, turning the ball over twice, and that was the difference in the game. Roethlisberger had negative passing yards after the first quarter, and the Steelers didn’t get a first down until their sixth possession, marking the first time in at least 20 years they have gone three-and-out on their first five drives.

Early on, the Bengals took a conservative approach offensively with Finley, but after he connected with A.J. Green on a 30-yard pass on his third series, Cincinnati got on the board with a 34-yard field goal. The offense heated up from there, but the Steelers struggled throughout the half.

Roethlisberger fumbled an exchange on the first snap of the third series, and Josh Bynes recovered. Then, Bengals safety Vonn Bell forced Smith-Schuster to fumble at midfield after he caught a pass for no gain. Jordan Evans scooped it up to put the ball on the Steelers’ 38-yard line and seven plays later, Giovani Bernard ran it in from the 4-yard line for a 10-0 lead with 12:05 left in the second quarter.

Finally, the Steelers got a first down and started moving the ball the next drive, but Mackensie Alexander picked off Roethlisberger at the Cincinnati 38-yard line and returned it 21 yards before Chukwuma Okorafor hit him on the Bengals’ sideline. Okorafor was quickly surrounded by Alexander’s teammates, and the 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty moved the Bengals to the 26-yard line.

Finley capped the three-play drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Bernard for the 17-0 lead with 4:20 left in the half. Bernard had something to prove after fumbling the first snap last week against Dallas and then sitting the rest of the first half of that game. On Monday, Bernard ran the ball on the first five plays before Finley even attempted a pass, and he finished with 83 yards on 25 carries to go along with two touchdowns.

Finley completed 7 of 13 passes for 89 yards and one touchdown and was sacked just twice against the top pass rush in the league. Roethlisberger, who had just 19 yards at halftime, finished with 170 yards passing and one touchdown, leading a Pittsburgh offense that totaled 40 yards in the first half and amassed 134 yards in the third quarter alone. Benny Snell, starting in place of injured James Conner, finished with 84 yards on 18 carries.