Sunday’s AFC North slobber-knocker at sold-out Paul Brown turned into a display of offensive heavyweights but the game spun on one of those old-fashioned turnovers when the Bengals’ four-point lead dissolved into a 14-point deficit during a dizzying span of 6:29 in the fourth quarter of a 42-21 loss to the Steelers before 65,512.
The 8-4-1 Bengals stayed in first place in the AFC North, but the rest of the division is coming after them, led by the 8-5 Steelers as they pumped up 543 yards for the most against the Bengals since Clevleland nicked them for 554 in 2007 and the most at home in the 12 seasons of head coach Marvin Lewis. It’s also the third time this year they’ve allowed more than 500 yards.
The Ravens join Pittsburgh at 8-5 and the 7-6 Browns get ready to host the Bengals next Sunday in what is now a string of win-or-else games.
With the Bengals leading, 21-20, early in the fourth quarter, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton pulled the ball out of rookie running back Jeremy Hill’s stomach on a zone read and when the ball hit Hill’s hip it bounced away and Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats fell on it at the Bengals 24 with 12:45 left in the game.
Then on third-and-seven, wide receiver Antonio Brown beat cornerback Adam Jones to the sideline for the first down and Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell plowed in for a 13-yard touchdown run. When quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hit wide-open tight end Heath Miller for the two-point conversion, that gave the Steelers a 28-21 lead with 11:27 left.
The zone read giveth and the zone read taketh away. In the first half when the Bengals ran it, Dalton kept it for a 20-yard touchdown, the longest scoring run ever by a Bengals quarterback, topping Kenny Anderson’s 19-yarder against Cleveland in 1974.
After the Steelers went up, 28-21, Bengals punter Kevin Huber pinned them on the Pittsburgh 6. On the first play, wide receiver Martavis Bryant ran past cornerback Leon Hall right down the right sideline and Roethlisberger threw a beauty for a 94-yard touchdown pass that made it 35-21 with 8:31 left. It was the second longest pass ever against the Bengals, longer than all but Jeff Garcia’s 99-yard strike for Cleveland in 2004.
It was a stunning moment for a Bengals secondary that had been so good this year, not allowing a pass of at least 40 yards since Nov. 2.
Roethlisberger had 350 yards passing to go on top of Bell’s 185 rushing yards, the most by a back against the Bengals since the Ravens’ Ray Rice had 191 in the 2011 season finale at PBS. Throw in another 100-yard day by the NFL’s leading receiver, Antonio Brown (117), and it was ugly. Bell went off on the Steelers’ power play running behind pulling right guard David DeCastro and the motioning Miller and that’s the play that got the Steelers going.
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