Steelers fall short against undefeated Bengals

The Steelers defense came to play on Sunday in the north shore against the undefeated division-rival Cincinnati Bengals. Welcoming Ben Roethlisberger back into the lineup since Week 3 the Steelers were enjoying having all of their offensive stars on the field together for the first time this season.

They enjoyed that for a little over two quarters until Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell had his right knee twisted on a hard tackle by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict. He would leave the game and not return.

The Steelers were able to capitalize off of several miscues by the Bengals that included two botched snaps, two Andy Dalton interceptions and a blocked field goal by Cameron Heyward. The Bengals also committed nine penalties for 92 yards.

Unfortunately for the Steelers, they weren’t able to capitalize off of those miscues in the way of points and they were called for nine penalties themselves for 86 yards. Ben Roethlisberger also tossed three interceptions and looked to have trouble getting the ball out quickly sometimes.

The Steelers defense kept the team in the game from the start, keeping the Bengals from converting on a third down the majority of the game as well as keeping them out of the end zone the majority of the game.

The Bengals finally saw the end zone after Roethlisberger’s second interception set them up with a 6-play drive for 45 yards culminating on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Dalton to A.J. Green, who had 11 receptions for 118 yards.

The Steelers had a shot after Cincinnati’s score with just less than three minutes on the clock down by three points. Roethlisberger came out of the gates looking super sharp on the game-opening touchdown drive but since that point had stalled on his drives. The Steelers’ drive was stopped by Roethlisberger’s third interception of the game.

Next: Steelers Bell leaves game with injury

The Steelers offense just plain didn’t play well enough to win the game no matter how many chances both the defense and the Bengals themselves tried to hand it to them. The Steelers’ final drive and the game ended on a pass to Antonio Brown out of bounds in the end zone.

That’s the way that it goes sometimes. The defense played well, the offense didn’t. Steelers are now 4-4 and will face the Raiders at home next week.

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!