Something old and something new paved the way for the Bengals to walk down the aisle to their first victory of the season Monday night at Paul Brown Stadium, when rookie running back Giovani Bernard injected life into a flagging offense and safety Reggie Nelson channeled last December in Pittsburgh when he picked off quarterback Ben Roethlisberger with 4:55 left to preserve another AFC North grind job by the defense in a 20-10 victory over the Steelers.
And running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis symbolized the smashmouth effort when he followed defensive tackle Domata Peko lined up at fullback and mashed for a Steelers-like eight-yard gain on third-and-six as the clock ticked under four minutes and Pittsburgh had to call a timeout.
Nelson, who intercepted Roethlisberger in the last minute last season to set up the winning Bengals field goal to qualify for the playoffs, made a diving catch Monday night at the Bengals 13 when the pass went off the hands of wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery.
The game got chippy at the end with Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley getting called for unnecessary roughness and left tackle Andrew Whitworth jawing with safety Troy Polamalu and walking off the field with arms raised saluting the crowd of 64,585 savoring head coach Marvin Lewis’s second home win over the Steelers in 12 games and first Monday night win in six years and six days.
The Steelers had just minus two yards in the first 23 minutes of the second half.
Bernard took a checkdown pass from quarterback Andy Dalton and scooted 27 yards for a touchdown that broke a 10-10 tie with 6:08 left in the third quarter as he left linebacker Kion Wilson and safety Ryan Clark in the dust. Tight end Jermaine Gresham went for 26 yards on a catch-and-bull and Green-Ellis provided some foreshadowing when he converted a third-and-one mashing behind Peko.
It was Bernard’s second touchdown of the night as he finished with eight carries for 38 yards to complement Green-Ellis’s 75 yards on 22 carries. Dalton survived a tough 25-for-45 night for 280 yards, but got his feet back on the ground when the Bengals turned to the run in the second half and kept the ball for more than 35 minutes on the way to breaking the 400-yard mark. The 407 yards are the most the Bengals have chalked up in 20 games against Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau and their most since the LeBeau-led Bengals put up 544 yards on Pittsburgh in the 2001 season finale at PBS.
Defensively they held the Steelers to 44 yards rushing, their best effort against Pittsburgh since 1999.
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