Maybe the Bengals shouldn’t play Sunday Night Football. The Cincinnati Bengals went into Pittsburgh hoping to clinch a playoff spot, but they will have to wait another week after losing to the rival Steelers 30-20.
It was another game where the Bengals started slow allowing 27 points in the first half (21 in first quarter). The Bengals once again had to play catch up and this time they just couldn’t pull it off. With the win the division rival Steelers and their fans get to gloat as they forced the Bengals and their fans to wait longer for the clinch. Looking at the division, the Bengals can only sit and hope that the Baltimore Ravens lose on Monday Night.
With the latest loss, the Bengals road record falls to an unimpressive 3-5 on the season. The team will now need to win their last two home games to ensure that they do not start the playoffs on the road. It is clear that winning on the road this season has been a difficult ride for these cats.
Andy Dalton had a better game than Ben Roethlisberger stat wise, Dalton went 25/44 with 203 yards and two TD passes with no INTs, while Big Bnen went 20/25 for 191 yards, 1 TD and one INT. AJ Green had 9 receptions with 93 yards caught and no TDs. Antonio Brown returned a punt for a TD and had a TD reception with 66 yards receiving.
The Bengals also had a few unfortunate injuries in this game which is not what you need going into the post season. Punter Kevin Huber was forced out of the game because of a fractured Jaw and most likely wont play for the rest of the season. Former Steeler James Harrison was knocked out in the first quarter with a concussion, which is really unfortunate seeing as he had three tackles in that quarter and was well on his way to having a great game. Jermaine Gresham suffered a hip injury in the second half, which meant Tyler Eiffert, had to step up. He was able to scoring a TD for the Bengals.
Will the Bengals have a hard time forgetting this game? I hope so and I think so these guys are professional athletes and they know they need to beat the Vikings next week so they can finally clinch that playoff spot and hopefully will be closer to taking the division. The Bengals are a different team at home, as they are perfect in Paul Brown Stadium this year.
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