Heading into the game against Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals were 7-4 and only one game back of the AFC North division lead. The Bengals had played the Steelers tough at home three weeks ago and now it was Cincinnati's turn to travel to Heinz Field to face one of the best teams in the NFL. This was a crucial game for the Bengals, but a bad first half never let them be competitive against one of the division leaders.
On the Bengals' opening drive, a touchdown pass from Andy Dalton to tight end Jermaine Gresham was erased by a false start penalty and the following field goal attempt was nullified by a delay of game penalty. On the second try, kicker Mike Nugent's kick was blocked by Cam Heyward.
In the second quarter, a forty-five yard completion from Ben Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown set up a Rashard Mendenhall touchdown run. The Bengals then went three and out after three unsuccessful pass plays and punted back to Pittsburgh. On the first play of the drive, Ben Roethlisberger threw a deep pass down the field intended for wide receiver Mike Wallace and defensive pass interference was called on Bengals safety Chris Crocker. The Steelers got the ball at the spot of the penalty, which was Cincinnati's own 20 yard line, and after two Mendenhall rushes, Pittsburgh scored its second touchdown of the game. To make things even worse for the Bengals, on the kickoff after the touchdown, Cincinnati return man Brandon Tate fumbled and the Steelers recovered the ball on Cincinnati's 23 yard line. A few plays later and Pittsburgh scored its third touchdown of the day on a Mike Wallace reception.
The Steelers went on to win the game 35-7 after a very dominant performance over Cincinnati. While the Bengals have four fourth quarter comebacks this season, the team has to actually be competitive in the game to give Andy Dalton and Cincinnati's offense a chance to win. The Bengals can't have stupid mistakes like they did on offense in the first quarter and on defense and special teams in the second quarter. In order to win against good teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, turnovers and penalties will kill any team, especially hated division rivals.
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