Over the next several weeks, I will be ranking the Pittsburgh Steelers 2020 regular season games from 16 down to 1.
While the Steelers 2020 season had many exciting moments and provided a plethora of hope for Steelers fans, there were certainly games that had #SteelerNation everywhere extremely nervous and curious as to what the heck was going on. We began with #16 when the Steelers faced off against the Washington Football Team in Week 13 and now we move on to the second worst game of the Steelers' season.
#15. Week 15 @ The Cincinnati Bengals
The Steelers first loss to the Bengals since November of 2015 was not a pretty one. Ben Roethlisberger's 170 yards was his second lowest total of the season and the Steelers quarterback only averaged 4.5 yards per completion. It seemed like the Steelers did not have a chance in this game from start to finish. Not only did the Bengals take a 17-0 lead, but Ryan Finley only threw the ball 13 times totaling 89 yards for the Bengals.
The Bengals rushed the ball 41 times for 152 yards and a Steelers defense once again looked depleted and tired at the season's end. Not only was the defense missing Devin Bush and Bud Dupree, but Robert Spillane was absent as well. It was one of the hardest Steelers games to watch in some time given it being against the Bengals on prime time Monday Night Football.
Roethlisberger threw an interception and lost a fumbled while JuJu Smith-Schuster turned the ball over as well. The sole positive in the game was Benny Snell Jr. rushing the ball 18 times for 84 yards, the Steelers second highest rushing total since Week 8. Jordan Berry averaging 52.2 yards per punt (6) was a plus too, but that's not something that we necessarily want to celebrate.
It seemed like the Steelers may have a chance to come back outscoring the Bengals 10-0 in the third quarter, but allowing the Bengals to score a touchdown on the first drive of the fourth quarter was a gut punch that the Steelers could not recover from.
The game along with the matchup against the Washington Football Team were both extremely tough to watch. The Steelers have occasionally played down to competition in the Mike Tomlin era, especially in December. Both of these games listed at #16 and #15 fall under that category. It is a serious concern that the team must figure out going forward.
The worst two games are out of the way. How hard was this game against the Bengals for you to watch, #SteelerNation? Let me know in the comments below!
