This Sunday at Paycor Stadium (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Local 12), the Bengals and Steelers renew what Sports Illustrated once plastered on its cover as "The Nastiest Rivalry in the NFL."
Through the years, it has been everything from a threshold to a turning point. One game four years ago on Monday night in a December, this game was both for the Bengals.
It turned out to be one of the greatest chapters in the series that nobody saw. Before a pandemic crowd of 10,249, the Bengals delivered a decisive 27-17 victory that gave their head coach a watershed moment.
In his second season, Zac Taylor had painstakingly built a culture as well as a roster. On this night, down to their third quarterback and facing an 11-2 Pittsburgh team headed to the AFC North title, he saw it blossom with orange-and-black force in front of the nation.
The night started with Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster flaunting the Steelers' power with a pregame dance on the "B," logo. It ended with Ryan Finley coming off the bench to race 23 yards for an early fourth-quarter touchdown as he beat Steelers future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in a game Finley threw for 89 yards and the Bengals held Big Ben to 170.
And a very big turnover on a play that set the tone for the Bengals' future. That's why they don't call it the Finley Game or the Roethlisberger Game. Call it the Vonn Bell Game.
Bell, the veteran safety in his first season with the Bengals, had Smith-Schuster in his sights early in the last minute of a first quarter the Bengals led, 3-0. He sent the message the Bengals would not be bullied, or even danced on, when he blew up Smith-Schuster on a pass at around that very logo to force a fumble gobbled up by linebacker Jordan Evans on a play that ended at the Steelers 38 and kept the nasty tradition alive.
Less than five minutes later, the Bengals were up, 10-0, and on their way to dethroning the Steelers as division champs in the coming seasons.
Now they meet again at Paycor four Decembers later in front of so many more people, but with just as much on the line.
There always is.
