By Paul Dehner Jr., Mike DeFabo and Amos Morale III
Evan McPherson drilled a 36-yard field goal with seven seconds to play that proved to be the game-winner as the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 33-31 Thursday night at Paycor Stadium.
McPherson’s kick was his fourth field goal of the night and came at the end of an eight-play, 52-yard drive led by veteran quarterback Joe Flacco.
Flacco threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns in the win. His favorite target was receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who set a franchise record with 16 receptions. Chase tallied 161 receiving yards and a touchdown, while teammate Tee Higgins added 96 yards and a score of his own.
Flacco delivering
The Bengals (3-4) officially found something in Flacco. There was a hope when Cincinnati traded for him earlier this month that he could enter the fray in Cincinnati, learn to distribute the ball and maybe yank the Bengals out of the offensive abyss they were living in under Jake Browning. Even they couldn’t have expected this so soon.
Flacco anticipates the plays in the Bengals’ offensive astonishingly well, considering that he just walked into the building nine days ago. His chemistry with Chase is rightfully the headliner here; the 16 completions were the most in a single game by a receiver in Bengals history.
Yet, his ability to take advantage of his second and third reads in critical moments was nearly equally as impressive. He hit Andrei Iosivas for a 38-yard floater up the middle on a third down and found Noah Fant for a touchdown on third-and-goal. He even pulled the ball for a 12-yard run. Then there was the final drive and one final deep ball to Higgins to set up the game-winning field goal.
This performance is straight out of a fairy tale and builds tangible momentum for the organization for the rest of this season. That felt impossible just two weeks ago, when the Bengals were getting their doors blown off and went four consecutive games without a first-half touchdown. — Paul Dehner Jr.
Flacco fears realized
Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin sounded off this week on the Flacco trade. The coach said the deal didn’t make “sense” to him and he blasted Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry for helping a division rival.
While the Browns deemed Flacco expendable, the 40-year-old QB proved on Thursday that he still has something left in his right arm — and plenty of experience against the Steelers defense. The Bengals and their fans are glad he’s in town.
The performance from Pittsburgh’s defense was more disappointing, considering the Steelers more or less built their secondary with Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey to deal with the Bengals’ talented receiving corps. Instead, Flacco diced that defense, repeatedly hitting Chase and Higgins on slants and crossers.
With success on the ground and through the air, the Bengals stayed one step ahead of the Steelers, nullifying their pass rush. A Steelers defense that struggled throughout the game needed to make one stop when Flacco got the ball trailing by 1 point with 2:15 remaining. On the edge of field-goal range, Higgins beat Ramsey for a 28-yard reception. The receiver wisely slid to force Pittsburgh to use up its timeouts. The Bengals eventually kicked the go-ahead field goal with seven seconds remaining and an Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary attempt failed as time ran out. — Mike DeFabo, Steelers beat writer
Chase Brown gets going
The Bengals’ run game was nonexistent all season. Chase Brown’s longest rush was just 13 yards coming into the night, and he was averaging 2.7 yards per attempt. He popped off a 28- and 37-yarder while racking up 108 yards on 11 carries. The juice in the running game helped open up the intermediate routes and play-action game. They didn’t utilize it as Flacco consistently found his receivers for completions, but that’s an effort worth building on going forward. — Dehner
Defense still a concern
The Bengals’ defense will continue to be a problem, essentially capping the ceiling for this team. The defense missed 19 tackles last week in Green Bay, and the problem continued on Thursday night. Everybody took a turn, with linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. the primary offender with four missed tackles.
The lack of pass rush was a known issue and remained a problem with Trey Hendrickson sidelined for this game. No instance more clearly reflected this than Rodgers’ touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth late in the game. The missed tackles all game provided over 100 free yards of offense and busted coverages accounted for another 100 plus. Safety Geno Stone found himself at the center of both. Great play by DJ Turner and others masked the problem at times, but there’s far too much similarity to last year’s defense to think Flacco can cover it every week. — Dehner
Miscues and turnovers open the door for the Bengals
On a short week, the Steelers looked like they were going to put away a desperate division rival when they built an early 10-0 lead. However, a handful of self-inflicted wounds helped open a door for the Bengals.
On fourth-and-1 from the Cincinnati 18-yard line, the Steelers looked like they had converted a successful tush push, with tight end Connor Heyward taking the snap. However, right guard Mason McCormick was flagged for a false start, and the Steelers had to settle for a field goal. The Bengals responded with a touchdown.
Then, on the very next play, Rodgers looked to take advantage of a single-high safety look and aired the ball out to DK Metcalf. The pass was intercepted and Cincinnati drove 37 yards in three plays to take a 14-10 lead. The Bengals would score 20 points before the Steelers responded. — DeFabo
Rodgers leads comeback, but Steelers score too quickly
The Steelers signed Rodgers for moments like Thursday night. Trailing by six with 2:26 to play, the ball was in his hands. After a holding penalty pushed the Steelers back to their own 32, Rodgers took advantage of busted coverage and threw to Freiermuth in a soft spot in the zone. The tight end took off for a 68-yard, go-ahead touchdown. As it turned out, the Steelers scored too quickly, as their defense did too little to take advantage of the offensive late-game surge. — DeFabo
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