The young, upstart 2011 Cincinnati Bengals looked old Sunday. As in The Old Bengals.
After clawing their way into playoff contention, the ill-prepared Bengals collapsed yesterday under the weight of the moment, regressing back to the mistakes of the 90’s. Yup, The Old Bengals reared its ugly head yesterday, as they committed 10 penalties for 109 yards and offered little resistance when the Pittsburgh Steelers erupted with their best 15 minutes of football this season en route to a 35-7 win at Heinz Field.
Just last month, after falling behind 14-0, the Bengals surged back to play the Steelers tit-for-tat at home before finally being edged out 24-17. This time around, the win came much, much easier for Pittsburgh as they put a huge cloud over the Bengals’ playoff hopes.
With the win, the Steelers (9-3) sweep the season series from Cincinnati (7-5) for the second straight year. It all happened because of a 28-point explosion in the second quarter fueled by QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Rashard Mendenhall and a 60-yard punt return for a score by WR-PR Antonio Brown.
Cincinnati’s miscues started early. The Bengals drove down the field on their opening possession, but a 4-yard touchdown pass from Dalton to Jermaine Gresham was wiped out by another costly pre-snap penalty (false start on A.J. Green). The Bengals settled for a Mike Nugent field goal only to have it called back after being flagged for delay of game. Nugent’s kick never had a shot the second time around as rookie Cam Heyward swatted it away. That’s about as close as the Bengals would get to making it interesting.
Cincinnati’s rookie quarterback Andy Dalton threw for 124 yards and a touchdown to Green, but the Bengals couldn’t overcome two turnovers and a handful of special team gaffes to all but end their hopes of winning the AFC North. The Bengals continued to self-destruct on the ensuing kickoff. Pittsburgh’s Stevenson Sylvester stripped Brandon Tate and the Steelers recovered at the Cincinnati 23. Roethlisberger needed just three plays to hit Wallace for a 12-yard score to make it 21-0.
Dalton found Green for an 11-yard score to briefly give the Bengals life, but Brown extinguished any momentum with a scintillating punt return just before the half that gave the Steelers a 28-7 lead at the break.
The Bengals came in with an NFL-record three double-digit second half rallies, but not this time. Playing with a lead Pittsburgh’s defense teed off on Dalton, who was removed from the game in the fourth quarter as a protective measure by Bengals’ head coach Marvin Lewis with the Bengals hopelessly behind.
Roethlisberger, who aggravated the injury in practice during the week, overcame a slow start to complete 15 of 23 passes for 176 yards and the two scores to Wallace. His final completion, a 9-yard toss to tight end David Johnson in the fourth quarter, was the 2,026th of his career, one more than Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw’s club record.
With the loss, Cincinnati is mostly likely in a forced-to-run-the-table situation. First up is the division-leading Houston Texans at home.
With the way the AFC playoff picture is shaking out, especially with the Carson Palmer-led Raiders losing yesterday to Miami, a 9-7 record might (MIGHT) get you in. But don’t count on it. If Cincinnati runs the table against Houston, St. Louis, Cardinals and Ravens, it’s a pretty safe bet they’re in. But lose this Sunday and it get real hard. Win Sunday and it stays interesting.
