The Bengals’ unprecedented offense kept them in contention entering the regular-season finale but, In the end, their much-maligned defense kept the postseason candle burning. Cincinnati held the Steelers to just 193 yards and Trey Hendrickson padded his NFL lead with 3½ sacks in a 19-17 win.
“You get opportunities in the National Football League to rewrite what this ’24, ’25 defense is going to look like,” Hendrickson told Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter after the game. “We turned it around, rallied behind Lou Anarumo and the rest of the coaching staff. Credit to them for keeping everybody tight in the locker room when you’re looking at 4-8.”
Remarkably, Cincinnati answered that 4-8 start with five consecutive wins. Now, the Bengals (9-8) have to wait an excruciating 20 hours to learn whether their season continues, needing the Chiefs and backup quarterback Carson Wentz to beat the Broncos and the Jets in potentially the last game of Aaron Rodgers’ career to beat Miami. Expect plenty of antacid at the home of Joe Burrow on Sunday afternoon.
“Yeah, it’s not great, but we put ourselves in this position,” Burrow told Lisa Salters on the field. “Nobody to blame but ourselves. So, we’ll enjoy this win and go back, watch some football tomorrow and hope for the best.”
Burrow’s best was 4,918 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes, likely the league’s best marks after the season concludes on Sunday night. His favorite target, Ja’Marr Chase, finished the season with 127 catches for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns, in all probability making him just the fifth player in league annals to lead the NFL in all three categories. Chase said afterward that leading the NFL in those categories was on his mind since the end of last year.
“Honestly, man, it’s a dream come true,” Chase shared with Westwood One in a postgame radio interview. “Honestly, man, last year when the season ended, I wrote that on my sticky note and put it on my mirror. That was my all-season goal going into this. That was my mindset going into the offseason and I was just working and targeting the triple crown.”
Unlike Cincinnati, Pittsburgh crumbled down the stretch. The Steelers (10-7) lost their last four games and now back into the playoffs. Depending on Sunday’s games, Pittsburgh will head on the road next week as a wild card against either the Ravens or Texans. On Saturday in the loss to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh went three-and-out on four of its 11 possessions. Russell Wilson was just 17 of 31 for 148 yards and wide receiver George Pickens had one catch for 0 yards and three drops.
“It’s ugly,” said Troy Aikman, who called the game for ESPN. “It’s ugly and they’ve got to be better on that side of the ball. But the good news was their defense, that had been struggling, played really well against an offense, as we know that’s been scoring a lot of points. So, that part of it, I think they’ve got to feel good about. On the other side of it, it’s just got to get a lot better.”
For more information on the Bengals and Steelers, visit the Cincinnati and Pittsburgh team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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