The Pittsburgh Steelers were upset 33-31 on the road last Thursday night by the Cincinnati Bengals. While future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes and helped Pittsburgh's offense move up and down the field, Mike Tomlin's defense struggled to stop Joe Flacco and the Bengals' offense. It surrendered 470 total yards of offense to a team that was struggling to find an identity on that side of the ball before the 40-year-old Flacco came along. All of a sudden, Cincinnati is now just a game back of its arch-rivals in the race for the AFC North.
Ryan Meyer / Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Flacco looks to throw against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Despite this troubling result on the Steelers' end, legendary quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger believes his old team is much better than the Bengals. Below is what he recently had to say via Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger regarding how dominant the Steelers can truly be against Cincinnati if they are at their best.
"There's a 90-percent chance the Steelers blow this team out," Roethlisberger said. "If they play nine more times, the Steelers are going to win nine. The Bengals are going to get 1 out of 10. Everything that could've went right for the Bengals went right for them, and almost everything that could've went wrong went wrong for the Steelers."
Few people know the Steelers' organization better than Roethlisberger, who spent all 18 of his NFL seasons in the Steel City. Aside from essentially one of the two interceptions that were thrown by Rodgers, the Steelers' defense was the only issue in Cincinnati. It let Flacco throw for almost 350 yards and three touchdowns. Additionally, Pittsburgh allowed the Bengals to eclipse 140 rushing yards.
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Bengals QB Joe Flacco celebrates with wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase after a big time score against the Steelers on Thursday Night Football in the 2025 NFL season.
Simply put, it was one of the worst defensive performances that the franchise has put forth while Tomlin has been at the helm. Yet, the Steelers were still leading in the final two minutes of the game. As Roethlisberger illustrated, everything went right for the Bengals, and they still almost lost.
Steelers Look to Bounce Back Against Two Tough Opponents At Home
The good news for the fans of Pittsburgh is that their team is still in first place in the AFC North at 4-2. The bad news is that the Bengals are hot on their heels at 3-4, and the Steelers have two of the best teams in the league coming to Acrisure Stadium over the next two weeks. On Sunday night, the long-awaited meeting between Rodgers and his former team, the Green Bay Packers, will take place. The Packers are the only one-loss team in the NFC, and prized acquisition Micah Parsons is coming off his first career three-sack game. This battle is likely to be one of the best in the league all season long. After Green Bay comes to town, the 6-1 Indianapolis Colts will follow. Quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Jonathan Taylor are one of the more dangerous offensive duos in the league.
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Packers quarterback Jordan Love and former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers during a practice.
These two games will be extremely defining for Tomlin and co. If they lose both, they will be sitting at .500 and in a brawl for their own division the rest of the way. If they can find a way to split or somehow win both, they could be on the trajectory towards a Super Bowl run. One thing for sure is that if the Pittsburgh defense plays the way it played last Thursday night against Flacco and Co., they are not going to stand a chance, even if Rodgers (105.0 passer rating) and the offense can find a way to produce major fireworks yet again. It is why the sport of football is arguably the best team sport in the world. If your team is not playing complete football at the right time, things can spiral out of control.
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