CINCINNATI (93.7 The Fan) – Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged it in the opening statement, the Steelers were in control of the game early and they let it slip in a 33-31 loss at Cincinnati on a walk-off field goal.
Steelers had all of the momentum after the first quarter, were up 7-0 and even added a field goal early in the second to take a 10-0 lead. On the Bengals first play of the second quarter the domination began. Chase Brown rushed for 27 yards, Joe Flacco found Ja’Marr Chase for 15 yards on 3rd and 6. Then got on the board with an 8-yard fade to Chase after replay overturned a TD to Chase the play before.
Rodgers would throw an interception on the first play of the Steelers ensuing drive in the second quarter throwing it up for DK Metcalf.
Bengals then created splash on a 37-yard run by Chase and Flacco found Tee Higgins on a slant for 29-yard TD.
As the Steelers tried to get something back before the half, Rodgers threw a second interception of the period on a play originally called a Metcalf catch, but overturned to a DJ Turner interception. Rodgers said he made a poor decision that changed the momentum.
“I got to catch the f-ing ball,” Metcalf said.
“We turned the ball over a couple of times and so that just set a negative trajectory and we were fighting uphill the rest of the way,” said head coach Mike Tomlin. “We got to be cleaner. We got to be better and we weren’t tonight.”
Flacco threw completions of 15, 12 and 8 yards to Chase and a pass interference penalty on Joey Porter, Junior helped put the Bengals in position for a 49-yard field goal by Evan McPherson to make it 17-10 Cincinnati at the half.
In the second quarter alone, Flacco was 10-13, 94 yards and 2 TD and Cincinnati rushed for 83 after averaging 56 yards a game coming into Thursday night. The Bengals took that confidence and scored on seven of its final eight possessions.
The Steelers threw downfield a couple times in the second instead of pounding a ground game that went for 44 yards in the first quarter. Tomlin said that stat is just pulling from a specific period as they ran the ball well all night. Rodgers said they just had some opportunities down the field because of the defense Cincinnati was playing.
It was a missed opportunity against a 2-4 Bengals team without its starting quarterback.
“We won’t be defined by this performance, but it certainly was disappointing tonight,” Tomlin said.
“We want to win every game,” Rodgers said. “There needs to be an expectation of winning, but this is a short week, division opponent, anything can happen. This is the NFL. We had a chance to really open up some space, but we’re 4-2, still first in the division.”