After the Pittsburgh Steelers saw a five-game winning streak come to an embarrassing halt against the Cleveland Browns, the team is looking for a bounce-back performance in Week 13. The Cincinnati Bengals are the third consecutive AFC North battle the Steelers have had since defeating the Washington Commanders in Week 10.
Steelers Need To Beat Losing Teams
Coming into Week 12’s matchup with the Browns, Pittsburgh was 8-2 and appeared to have gotten the “Mike Tomlin trap game” monkey off the franchise’s collective back. However, a loss to the then-2-8 Browns brought back all the questions that had seemingly been answered from the team’s first 10 games. Sitting at 8-3, still atop the AFC North, Pittsburgh has plenty of time to correct the Cleveland loss, and that all starts in Cincinnati on Sunday.
When AFC North teams play one another, records do not matter, as was painfully apparent against the Browns in Week 12. The Bengals (4-7) are holding onto flimsy mathematical hopes for a successful season, but the Steelers cannot afford to look past Cincinnati in any way. Pittsburgh is the only other NFL team besides the 11-1 Detroit Lions to be undefeated against teams with winning records. However, when the Steelers lose in 2024, which the team has done three times, it has been to teams with records under .500, and the Bengals will qualify as another one of those matchups.
Biggest Battle Will Be Cincinnati’s Passing
The Bengals don’t just have a good passing offense in 2024. Joe Burrow and company are the best at throwing the football in the league. Cincinnati averages 262.7 passing yards a game, which ranks first in the NFL, compared to the Steelers 26th-ranked passing offense (192.8 yards/game). Ja’Marr Chase is one of the best receivers in the NFL despite his team’s third-place divisional standing. Chase is first in both receiving yards (1,052) and receiving touchdowns (12) and only 11 behind the lead for receptions with 73 catches in 2024 so far.
Joey Porter Jr. has had an up-and-down year but is still one of the better cornerbacks in the league and loves going up against elite receivers. The first half of 2024 was better than the tape Porter put together against the Commanders and Browns. However, the 2023 second-round pick has proven his ability to be a shutdown force for Pittsburgh more often than not. With AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, the slew of Kansas City Chiefs, a second meeting with Ja’Marr Chase, and Jerry Jeudy again, not to mention the Baltimore Ravens’ potent offense on the schedule, the Steelers need Porter’s best from here on out.
Mismatch To Capitalize On
Pittsburgh boasts the fourth-best rushing defense in the league and will be going up against the Bengals’ 27th-ranked rushing offense on Sunday. With Joe Mixon playing with the Houston Texans, Chase Brown leads the team with 607 rushing yards. It will be an uphill battle for the Bengals to run against Cameron Heyward, Keeanu Benton, and the stingy front seven that wear black and gold. While the Bengals have the most dangerous passing attack in the NFL, that doesn’t mean Pittsburgh won’t strive to make the Cincinnati offense one-dimensional.
TJ Watt and Nick Herbig are at their best when they can pin their ears back and do nothing but rush the quarterback. If Brown and the Bengals’ rushing offense can’t make headway, it will create some perfect scenarios for the Steelers to let the defense do its thing and hit Burrow early and often. The Bengals have allowed 26 sacks in 2024, but the impact of the Pittsburgh defense is the ability to cause turnovers and errors through disruption, even when the pressure doesn’t result in a sack. If the Steelers’ blitz attempts fail, however, Burrow has proven more than ready to become surgical through the air.
Can Pittsburgh Outscore Burrow?
Cincinnati’s defense has allowed 19 passing touchdowns, tied for the sixth-worst in the league. With the 23rd-ranked passing defense, the Bengals have struggled to contain teams throughout the season and have ruined impressive performances from Burrow and Chase on more than one occasion. Burrow has put together two big games against the Ravens with 9 passing touchdowns for 820 yards with a 122.7 average rating, but the Bengals lost both those games by a combined four points (41-38, 35-34).
The key to beating Cincinnati in 2024 is scoring in bunches, with the defense allowing 26 points or more in all but three games. That could be a tall order for an offense that averages less than 23 points a game and usually needs the first half to warm up and put points on the board. The Steelers are scoring just a little more than a single touchdown through the first two quarters of games in 2024 (8.4 points/game). That total nearly doubles in the second half, with Pittsburgh averaging a combined 14.5 points in the third and fourth quarters. It will be challenging for Pittsburgh to catch up if the Bengals get ahead early.
Will Pittsburgh’s Receivers Show Up?
The fact that George Pickens is the leading receiver (776 yards, 2 touchdowns) on the Steelers’ roster by far wouldn’t surprise anyone who remotely follows the NFL. The next closest to Pickens, who isn’t a running back or tight end, is Calvin Austin III with 354 yards. It has been an issue that has plagued Pittsburgh’s offense throughout the season, and while Pickens is showing that he is indeed an NFL star, the rest of the passing attack is anemic at best. Pat Freiermuth is tied with Austin in receiving yards and touchdowns (3), but his 35 catches are second on the team.
Without a successful air assault on Sunday, the Steelers have little chance of keeping up with the Bengals’ high-octane offense. While there have certainly been improvements since Russell Wilson took over for Justin Fields under center, the past few weeks have shined a spotlight on some of Wilson’s least attractive qualities. Pittsburgh needs its veteran quarterback to be a steadying force in the locker room and on the field to avoid the Cleveland loss turning into a losing streak at the worst possible time.
Keys To Victory
The Steelers let Myles Garrett wreck the game last Thursday, largely due to inadequate blocking across the board by Pittsburgh’s offensive line. Against the Bengals’ top-rated passing offense, the Steelers need to keep pace, which means giving Wilson time to throw the ball downfield. Dan Moore Jr. and Broderick Jones will have to be better against Cincinnati so the 35-year-old passer remains upright and can showcase his “moon ball.” With Pickens and a speedster like Austin, if Wilson is given clean pockets, it could be a barn burner. That is the most likely way the Steelers come away from Week 13 with a victory.
It wasn’t just Moore and Jones that put in subpar performances against the Browns. Usual standout linemen like Isaac Seumalo and Zach Frazier had days they would like to forget. Hopefully, the entire offense line has a short memory going into Sunday’s road game. The more time Wilson has to find someone open among a group of receivers, who are collectively one of the worst teams at separating from defenders on routes, the more points the Steelers will have the chance to score.
Final Thoughts and Prediction
Since Alex Highsmith is highly unlikely to play with a Doubtful injury designation, it will be on Watt and Herbig to lead the pass rush. Having 10 days between games will have Pittsburgh going into Cincinnati as healthy as the roster can be at this point in the season. Cory Trice Jr. and Montravius Adams keep getting closer to being back on the field, and Highsmith is a week or two from being healthy enough to play. Defensive depth has been vital to the Steelers winning eight games so far, and it will be an essential part of getting the ninth victory on Sunday.
This game is expected to be a high-scoring affair, which, unfortunately, plays more in the Bengals’ favor than Pittsburgh’s. The Steelers are underdogs and tend to like it that way. It will be all about points if Pittsburgh wants to keep its lead in the AFC North and bring the team one step closer to the playoffs. Prediction: Steelers 31 – Bengals 28
