New-look Bengals still have far to go
CINCINNATI – This was supposed to be Cincinnati’s statement game. Instead, it became one for the Steelers. Pittsburgh’s 27-13 win over Cincinnati closed the gap in the AFC North Division to half a game and gave the Steelers the upper hand in all tiebreakers. The Steelers are 4-2, while the Bengals fell to 5-2 with their bye week yet to come.
But let’s not forget that these were the Bengals. They’ve come a long way from their former identity of the Bungles, but they have not come as far as they would like you to believe.
The Steelers, not the Bengals, were the aggressor in this match-up, dubbed the best in the AFC this week. It was Pittsburgh who came in needing the win, while the Bengals played like a team trying not to lose.
“They were the hot team coming in, but we play pretty well on the road,” linebacker Joey Porter said, referring to the Steelers’ 10-game road winning streak. “A lot of people were writing us off, saying Cincinnati was the team to beat in the division. We had to come in and play our game and win back some respect.”
Mission accomplished, although more than earning respect for themselves, it seems the Steelers did more to expose the Bengals as pretenders.
A few cases in point:
The Bengals want to score touchdowns so they can show off their new dance, a la Chad Johnson. Little did it matter to him that his TD catch would be overturned by a perfect Steelers’ challenge.
The Steelers want to score touchdowns to win games. A case in point was Hines Ward, who aggravated his hamstring injury in the end zone trying to score, only to come back at the end of the same drive to get the touchdown.
The Steelers were coming off a tough home overtime loss to Jacksonville, while the Bengals had beaten Cleveland, Houston, Tennessee, Chicago and Detroit, while losing to Jacksonville.
Cincinnati found out Sunday afternoon what it means to compete for a division championship. They learned that it takes more than beating the teams you’re supposed to beat. It also means showing up fully prepared to do battle with the elite teams in the league. On that count, the Bengals were and are still lacking. They may have the talent to compete with the likes of the Steelers, but not the maturity.
The Steelers couldn’t say a word before the game about it, even though they took it to mean that everybody was willing to give the Bengals what truly belonged to them.
“Everybody was talking about Cincinnati winning our division,” wide receiver Hines Ward said, proudly referring to the AFC North as the Steelers’ domain. “Nobody gave us a chance to win coming in here, but we proved them wrong.”
Running back Jerome Bettis said the same thing, but in a different way.
“If you want to control the division like we have the last couple of years,” Bettis said, “this was critical.”
The Steelers saw this game as vital to their season, the Bengals seemed to treat it like another day at the office. The Steelers saw Cincinnati’s run defense as an area to attack and attack it they did, to the tune of over 200 rushing yards and under 100 passing yards.
Once they established that they could run effectively, the passing game was shut down.
“I’ll take that few passes anytime for a win,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said.
But it was Steelers coach Bill Cowher who put it best in the moments after perhaps his best coaching job of the season.
“We couldn’t afford to get any further behind them,” Cowher said.
“We came here playing for first place. We’re a good team, a very resilient bunch, but a humble one, too.”
And that’s all the statement the Steelers needed to make.
Sports editor Mike Ciarochi may be reached at mciarochi@heraldstandard.com