The Bengals lit up the Paycor Stadium scoreboard with at least 33 points for the fourth time this season Sunday and the 38 they put on Pittsburgh's NFL fourth-best scoring defense was the most the Steelers had allowed in more than two seasons.
The last time the Bengals had such home fireworks, they went unbeaten at Paycor in 2013. But on Sunday it wasn't enough.
"You put up 38 on that type of offense, you expect to win those types of games," said slot cornerback Mike Hilton, the former Steeler.
This series has been typically defined by AFC North smashmouth 23-20 games. This one wasn't your grandfather's classic division battle. Or your father's. Or even yours with Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson combining for 723 yards through the air.
After 193 NFL starts, Wilson's 120th win is his first AFC North road victory in the city where he was born 36 years and two days ago.
"It's the first time for (Wilson) going through this AFC football, and I thought he acclimated himself well today," said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. "He put himself squarely in the history of this series with that performance today. We're thankful for it."
He was also thankful for what they did in the red zone.
The Steelers came in next-to-last in scoring touchdowns in there. They scored touchdowns on their first two red-zone trips when wide receiver George Pickens made a slew of tacklers miss on a 17-yard receiver screen, and running back Najee Harris didn't get touched on a 10-yard run he cut back from the left and went up the middle.
TRUE TO FORM: The game did hold to AFC North principles in one way.
On Sunday, Tomlin became the all-time winningest head coach in one-score games since the 1970 merger, nudging ahead of Pro Football Hall of Famer's Tony Dungy's .615 winning percentage, barely ahead of another Hall-of-Famer, Don Shula's .612.
And after Sunday's 44-38 loss, the Bengals' sixth by one score this season, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor knew why.
"They won the turnover battle. In these games, when it comes down to a single-score game, that often times can be it." Taylor said. "So we've got to find a way to create more turnovers."
The Bengals got a turnover to start the game when cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt answered his benching two weeks ago in textbook fashion. He converted the third play of the game into a 51-yard interception touchdown return, the club's longest in six years.
But that was their only one of the day while the Steelers defensive line generated three turnovers, including linebacker Payton Wilson scooping up linebacker Nick Herbig's blindside sack-strip of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow for a defensive score of their own to make it 41-24 with 11:06 left.
Burrow had no shot on that one. Nor did he have one when the ageless tackle Cam Heyward jumped to tip a pass that cornerback Donte Jackson hauled in for an interception on the third play of the fourth quarter at the Steelers 36 and Pittsburgh ahead, 34-24.
"He's a great player. (There is) nothing I would have done differently on that one," Burrow said. "We've got to take care of the ball better. It starts with me. Some good and some bad."
Burrow is apparently thinking of the first turnover, which was Steeler disruptor-in-chief T.J. Watt's sixth forced fumble off the edge in his 14th game against the Bengals.
Burrow had led touchdown drives on the last two possessions and had the ball at the Steelers 33 in a 21-21 game with 4:46 left in the first half. He tried one of his patented play extensions, bolting to his right and stepping up to get away from Watt, being chipped by tight end Drew Sample and then left guard Cody Ford. But Watt retraced his steps, reached from behind Burrow, and knocked it out of his hand.
It led to a field goal and the Bengals never tied it again.
"I would say I probably held onto it a little too long. I could have found the tight end early, especially in that point of the game," Burrow said. "The second one, I felt like I was getting the ball out pretty quickly on that one. (Herbig) made a good play."
PERFECT STARTS: Not only did Taylor-Britt start off the game in ideal fashion, so did Bengals backup edge rusher Joseph Ossai leading off the second half.
After Wilson drove the Steelers to the Bengals 23 off the opening kickoff, here was Mr. Automatic lining up a 42-yard field-goal attempt.
The Steelers' Chris Boswell, currently the league's best kicker, came in with only two missed field goals, and those from 62 and 58 yards.
But Ossai came flying through right tackle and right end with rookie backer Maema Njongmeta bowling over Steelers defensive tackle Isaiahh Lowdermilk. Ossai leaped and batted the thing about 30 yards out of bounds.
"Scheme and bend," Ossai said.
It was the first block of Ossai's career, which includes falling on an end-zone fumble for a touchdown, and the Bengals' first blocked field goal since defensive tackle B.J. Hill batted one Halloween night of 2022 in Cleveland.
FOURTH DOWN CONTROVERSY: But the Bengals are convinced the Watt fumble was not the turning point in the game. Down, 24-21, with 2:05 left in the first half, they had the ball on their own 39 on fourth-and-one and went for it.
They put tight Tanner Hudson in motion and when he stopped under center, it appeared to draw linebacker Elandon Roberts into the neutral zone. So right guard Alex Cappa hit him with the Bengals assuming the Steelers would be penalized and they'd have a first down.
Although it looked that way, Cappa was called for a false start, the Bengals had to punt, and the Steelers tacked on another field goal to make it 27-21 at the half.
"Bad call," said wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who said it was the turning point.
"That was a disappointing call. I have a lot of respect for that crew, but they missed that one." said Burrow of Shawn Hochuli's group. "That was a big play in the game.
"That's a first down for us. Maybe we get points or maybe we don't. But they get the ball, then go get three, and I don't think they do that if the call is correct in that situation. A lot more went wrong than that, but it was a big call in the game."
D-TAKE: No one ever gives up 500 yards in the 109 games of this series. It's only happened six times, three by each defense. The Bengals' third time was Sunday with 520 yards.
"I'm not going to say they gave up 44 (points). You give up 37 points," said Taylor, alluding to the defensive score. "You've just got to find ways to get stops. That starts with tackling. Credit to their offense. I thought they did a great job.
"I thought (Steelers offensive coordinator) Arthur (Smith) had a great plan and they executed it, kept us off balance, kept themselves in really manageable second downs, and that shows by the score."
With Wilson coming into the game with his highest yards per attempt in years (8.1) and Pickens averaging about 15 yards per catch, the Bengals were adamant in keeping the top down and had their linebackers deep under a shell.
Linebackers Germaine Pratt and Akeem Davis-Gaither, playing for the injured Logan Wilson, each led everyone with 13 tackles.
The Bengals held Pickens to three catches for 74 yards with almost half coming on Wilson's longest throw of the game, a 36-yarder he dropped perfectly down the right sideline with rookie cornerback Josh Newton in tight coverage in his first NFL start
But Wilson went to his underneath men most of the day. The more the Bengals gave him, the more Wilson took. A total of 414 passing yards, the second-best day of his star-studded career. A total of 22 of his 29 completions went to running backs and tight ends for 245 yards.
Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who has scolded them for missed tackles at points this year, most likely isn't going to like counting the amount from Sunday.
"That was the plan. He was definitely getting to his checkdowns quick," Hilton said of taking away the deep ball. "We felt good about limiting 14 (Pickens) on the explosives and we did that, besides one.
"Russell did his job and just got the ball out of his hands. He saw once we were in some zone and went right to his checkdowns, and that's an easy five to six yards a pop. Man up on some guys, put a little more pressure in his face. We did that towards the second half, but it just wasn't our day. These guys get paid, too, so they make people miss and break tackles."
Safety Jordan Battle is looking to rally better to the checkdowns.
"They threw about five to six screens. They saw something in the last few games and attacked it," Battle said. "We have to do a better job of stacking. We need to do a better job running out to the stack and seeing the screen and the linebackers and the DBs really have to get there, and when they get there, make the tackle. I felt like we had a lot of missed tackles. (On the receiver screen), even that, holding on to leverage and forcing the ball back to our big guys."
SLANTS AND SCREENS: The Bengals made a move on their interior offensive line for the first time in two years this week and put Cody Ford at left guard in place of Cordell Volson. Volson had played every snap since he came into the league as a fourth-rounder in 2022, but the Bengals liked the way he replaced Orlando Brown at left tackle in the previous three games.
When Brown came back on Sunday, Ford was next to him.
"I had two costly mistakes I'd like to have back," said Ford of a false start on the snap before Burrow's interception that made it first and-15 and allowing Heyward's sack on second-and eight on the first drive of the second half.
But Burrow overcame the sack with a 31-yarder to wide receiver Tee Higgins on third-and-21, and they got a field goal.
"He did well," said Orlando Brown, Ford's college teammate at Oklahoma. "He played physical, he flattened out the pocket, he had some good double teams. He'd like two plays back, but that's the game."
Ford had to give it to Heyward with that 14.5 career sack against the Bengals that leads all active sackers against Cincy. At age 35.
"He doesn't age," Heyward said. "It seemed he's not just maintaining his strength, but he's getting stronger." …
Bengals running back Chase Brown had the longest run of his career, a 40-yarder, that set up his eighth touchdown of the season on a one-yard run to give the Bengals a14-7 lead. Rookie tight end Cam Grandy, who got his first start in his third game, made a nice cross block coming from the right wing and Brown cut behind that up an alley on the right while scalding cornerback Joey Porter Jr. as he ran through his arm tackle. Higgins also went into the middle to wall off the lane.
Ford said he thought after that sequence, the Steelers began bringing more pressure up the middle. After three carries in that drive netted 54 yards 10 minutes into the game, Brown finished with 70 yards on 12 carries...
