In the opponent’s ‘change of guard’, the Cincinnati Bengals completely wiped out the Pittsburgh Steelers
CINCINNATI – Drops three points with 30 seconds until halftime, Ben Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh Steelers‘insult tried to take advantage of Minkah Fitzpatrickmidfield interception Joe Burrow an earlier play.
Roethlisberger targets wide receiver James Washington on a route, but Cincinnati Bengals veteran – and ex-Pittsburgh – back in defense Mike Hilton cut inside, picked his old midfielder and ran it back 24 yards for a touchdown and one final exclamation 41-10 Steelers lose.
It’s a microcosm of what is becoming apparent more than halfway through the season. Once the untouchable kings of the AFC North, the Steelers (5-5-1) were dethroned as their flaws grew more and more visible each week.
“It’s been a big change in terms of defenders from our point of view,” Hilton said of the Steelers-Bengals rivalry. “It gives us a lot of confidence and everyone is excited to see how the rest of the season goes.”
As the Bengals ran into their locker rooms shortly after their victory, a player who had disappeared below the entrance shouted, “That’s our f—ing department!”
On the other side of the stadium, the mood was bleak.
With a bowing posture and low voice, people running across the street TJ Watt expressed frustration with himself and the defense for not stopping the Bengals’ on-field attack. Run back Joe Mixon reached the pinnacle of his career with 165 yards of charge before the fourth round began.
“It’s not something that any of us are proud of,” Watt said. “You never want to get that feeling out of a game. We put it on tape and now we have to own it, move forward, and know that everyone sees the things. What just happened today and what we can expect ahead We have to stop this before it continues to unravel and become a bigger problem than it already is.
“We can’t keep playing like this. It’s really embarrassing.”
The Bengals (7-4) not only wiped out the Steelers in the regular season for the first time since 2009, but also led them by 45 points in two games. That’s the second-biggest score difference against the Steelers in a single season, just behind 2006 Baltimore Raven team overcome Steelers 51. This is also Steelers’ worst loss since they fell Philadelphia Eagles March 34 in 2016.
“It’s alarming,” coach Mike Tomlin said of his defense dropping too many points. “We’re not trying to play it cool for any length of time. We don’t play that kind of football, but we’re in our last two weeks, so need to do some work. adjust.”
Sunday’s loss comes after a comeback near the fourth quarter of last year Los Angeles charger, but in both games, the Steelers have no control over the script circuit. Since holding Cleveland BrownsThe ground offensive was hailed as 96 yards, the Steelers giving up a rushed 722 yards in four games.
“We’re trying to work it out and obviously we’re not doing a good job,” Watt said. “We’ve got to go back to the movie and people have to look at the movie and see themselves critically and figure out how to stop this because it’s ongoing.”
Defense captain Cameron Heyward, a 10-year veteran, said it was possibly the worst defense he had seen since he was recruited in 2011.
“I don’t know, maybe I’ll say yes,” he said. “I don’t look to the past. All I can do is worry about the present. There is a lot of football to play, but if we do what we did there today, we do it. I’m not going to win another damn match.”
While the Steelers couldn’t stop the Bengals’ running game, they also couldn’t get ahead with just 51 yards after 15 tries. Run back Najee Harris held for 23 yards on eight executions, his worst output of the season.
“They won the mano-a-mano game of playing too much,” says Tomlin.
The Steelers are in 500th place, but with the loss, they are bottom of the AFC North standings and are in danger of slipping away from the playoff picture with games against Raven, Minnesota Vikings, Tennessee Titans and Chief of Kansas City on the horizon.
“It’s tough because you’re entering a period of crisis,” Roethlisberger said after the loss. “Divisional opponents. And you want to go out and play good football, and you don’t. It stinks, but you have to move on because we have another game next week. … I don’t. know what happened today, but AFC looks open.Obviously, we didn’t do anything for ourselves, but still six. How can we get back?
“That would be the key.”
ESPN staff member Ben Baby contributed to this report.
