Bengals' Defensive Dominance Opened the Door for Ryan Finley and the Offense Against the Steelers
CINCINNATI — The Bengals pulled off a monster upset against the Steelers on Monday night.
Pittsburgh was favored by 14-points entering the primetime matchup. Everyone expected the Bengals to lose.
Instead, they led wire-to-wire in their 27-17 victory over the Steelers.
The defense was dominant. They forced three first half turnovers and pressured Ben Roethlisberger all night long. He had one of the worst performances of his career.
Roethlisberger is notoriously known for picking apart Cincinnati defenses, but finished 20-of-38 for 170 yards one touchdown and one interception.
The Bengals dropped at least three more potential interceptions.
Carl Lawson wrecked the Steelers offensive line all night. He finished with nine total pressures and six quarterback hits.
Lawson stripped Roethlisberger in the closing minutes of the first half, but the Steeler offensive line was quick to jump on the fumble.
Roethlisberger was 1-for-12 on passes of ten or more yards, which was a 23-yard touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson.
The Steelers’ offense only had 12 first downs. They were 4-of-16 on third down.
“Our defense was playing with a ton of energy,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “They were getting guys on the ground. I didn’t see many missed tackles. They made some big one-on-one plays down the field. Our DBs [defensive backs] really stepped up and made those plays when their number was called.”
The defensive stops and turnovers put the offense in position to score. Each of Cincinnati’s first half scores came off of turnovers deep in Pittsburgh territory. The offense started all three of their first half scoring drives inside the Steelers' 38-yard line. They scored two touchdowns and kicked a field goal on the three possessions.
Confidence built as the offense continued to capitalize on quality field position.
Giovani Bernard was the focal point of the offensive game plan. He touched the ball on nearly half of the plays as he carried 25 attempts for 83 yards and a touchdown. Bernard added a 14-yard catch for his second score.
The Bengals relied on their rushing attack most of the night. Ryan Finley completed 7-of-13 passes for 89 yards and one touchdown.
The Bengals' rushing attack helped clinch the game in the fourth quarter.
Taylor called a read-option play on 2nd-and-two. Finley faked the handoff to Semaje Perine and took it 23-yards to the house. The Steelers went after Perine, which created the lane on the outside for Finley to run.
“(Taylor) tagged ‘read’ on it. That’s not even a play that normally is a read, but he just tagged the word ‘read’ on it," Finley said after the game. "He (Taylor) said if everything crashes, just pull it. That’s pretty much what happened, and I walked it in.”
Austin Seibert sealed the game with a 33-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining.
The offensive stats didn’t jump off the board with a total net of 230 yards, but their defense and clean slate in the turnover column helped propel them to victory.
“Fortunately, this week we’re on the other side of that,” Bernard said. “This entire week we prided ourselves on holding onto the ball, protecting the rock. We didn’t have to do anything spectacular. We just had to hold onto the ball, let our defense make plays, let our defense create plays, and just feed off of each other.”
Cincinnati snapped their 11-game losing streak to Pittsburgh on Monday night and handed the Steelers their third consecutive loss.
It was the biggest win in the Zac Taylor era.
Regardless of what the future holds for this Cincinnati Bengals team, it’s always a fun time when the Bengals beat the Steelers.
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