Stayin’ alive.
The Cincinnati Bengals eventually may not make the 2024 postseason, but their five-game winning streak following Saturday’s 19-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers has put pressure on the two teams ahead of them in the standings.
The Denver Broncos will clinch the final AFC wild-card spot and No. 7 seed with a victory against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, and the Miami Dolphins can do the same with a win over the New York Jets and a Broncos defeat. Cincinnati is now rooting for both teams to lose Sunday (or for the Dolphins to tie).
Cincinnati won its fifth straight game to end the regular season above .500 after starting the 2024 campaign 4-8.
Quarterback Joe Burrow (37-for-46, 277 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception) and the Bengals marched down the field on the game’s opening possession for seven points, as he and Ja’Marr Chase (10 catches, 96 yards) hooked up for a 12-yard touchdown.
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Burrow exited halfway through the third quarter after taking a sack and falling hard helmet-first into the field. Two Steelers, linebacker Nick Herbig and defensive lineman Cam Heyward, both landed on Burrow. Pieces of the Acrisure Stadium turf became lodged in the top of his helmet, and he remained on the ground for several moments in pain while the Bengals training staff came onto the field. Burrow went into the blue medical tent briefly but rejoined his teammates on the sideline and took the field on Cincinnati’s next series.
Cincinnati was without starting running back Chase Brown, who tried to test his injured ankle during warmups but could not go. In his place, Khalil Herbert rushed 19 times for 67 yards. The team lost wideout Tee Higgins to an ankle injury in the fourth quarter, and his absence was certainly noticeable as the Bengals struggled to move the ball down the stretch.
Kicker Cade York knocked through all four of his field-goal attempts to account for the Bengals’ scoring outside of Chase’s touchdown, as Cincinnati could not find the end zone despite seven of their 10 drives reaching inside the Pittsburgh 40-yard line.
Pittsburgh’s offense was abysmal for most of the game, as quarterback Russell Wilson’s final stat line was a far cry from the 400-yard performance he had in a 44-38 win in November. As the Steelers took the field down 12 points in the fourth quarter, they had yet to eclipse 100 yards of total offense. But Wilson had six completions on the ensuing drive – one more than he had in the game up until that point – and found Pat Freiermuth for a 19-yard touchdown with 8:07 remaining to give the game’s ending some drama.
Disaster nearly struck for the Bengals when they were about to receive the ball back with about five minutes remaining. The Steelers’ punt grazed Bengals cornerback D.J. Ivey’s foot, and Steelers tight end Connor Heyward recovered the ball before it went out of bounds. Pittsburgh recovered at the Bengals’ 38-yard line with 5:14 to go and down 19-14. Boswell connected on a 54-yard field goal to make it a two-point game with 2:39 to go.
Wilson bailed the Bengals out on the final possession on three straight plays. First, he opted to run and keep the clock running by not throwing the ball out of bounds and rushing for a short gain. On the next play, he took a sack, Trey Hendrickson’s third-and-a-half of the game (17.5 on the season). A third-down deep ball to George Pickens, who had three drops, fell incomplete as Wilson and the receiver were not on the same page. On fourth down, a pass that Freiermuth dropped ended Pittsburgh’s chances of a comeback.
The Steelers’ attention now turns to the Los Angeles Chargers’ matchup Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. Should the Chargers win, they would become the AFC’s No. 5 seed and Pittsburgh would face the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC North wild-card round matchup. If the Chargers lose, Pittsburgh would face the Houston Texans in the 4-5 battle.