Steelers destroying the Bengals in Week 15 will tell us nothing

The Steelers have a chance to stick it to the Bengals in Week 15, but here’s why a blowout win by Pittsburgh will tell us nothing.

You better believe that after three straight lousy offensive performances from the Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh’s offense is going to be playing to prove themselves on Monday Night Football. Unfortunately, their shot at redemption will come against the Cincinnati Bengals.

I’m not saying this to suggest that the Steelers can’t pulverize this team. But if they do, have they really proven anything?

Even when number one overall pick, Joe Burrow, was leading the charge, the Bengals still weren’t a good football team. Pittsburgh stomped on them the first time around in a 36-10 win. So it’s only reasonable to expect them to do the same this week, right? After all, Brandon Allen has got to be the worst starting quarterback in the league right now.

Why a blowout win by Steelers will show us nothing

It wasn’t that long ago that Pittsburgh pummeled Cincinnati by 26 points to cruise to victory. Despite the fact that Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense have stalled for just 14.6 points per contest over their last three games, I still expect them to stick it to the Bengals in Week 15 – especially with all eyes on them in the primetime spotlight on Monday Night Football.

However, this is one of those classic ‘lose-lose’ scenarios for Mike Tomlin and his crew. If the Steelers blowout the Bengals, then they did exactly what nearly all experts predicted they would do. But if they win in anything but a blowout contest, analysts are going to be questioning Pittsburgh’s credibility left and right.

Though a win on Monday night will mean that Pittsburgh has clinched the AFC North, I agree with the experts to an extent. If the Steelers win by 3-10 points, I’m going to be deathly afraid of their chances in the playoffs this year. Pittsburgh pounded them earlier in the year, and the Ravens destroyed Cincinnati in a 27-3 victory when Burrow was still the quarterback.

Ben Roethlisberger has a lot to prove

All eyes are going to be on Pittsburgh’s offense in this contest – an offense that hasn’t scored as much as 20 points in a contest since Week 11 against the Jaguars. If the Steelers don’t score 30 or more points this game, that’s going to be a bit of a letdown.

Over his last 4 games, Ben Roethlisberger has managed just 7 touchdowns and 5 interceptions to go with a dismal 5.4 yards per pass attempt. In addition, he is coming off one of the worst games of his career when he managed just 187 yards on 37 attempts against a Bills pass defense that has been vulnerable all season long.

The Steelers really do live and die by Ben Roethlisberger and he needs to prove himself capable of destroying a terrible Bengals team on Monday night. If he can do that, perhaps Pittsburgh fans will gain more confidence in their team as we near the playoffs.