The first half of the Steelers and Bengals game had me yinzing about as much as anyone.

Still, I didn’t think it was all over from the start. There were a number of miscues, and gifts, which gave the Bengals the early lead (the first time the Steelers were down since the 4-game win streak).

Would Pittsburgh have enough to overcome being down, and on the road, against a vile enemy?

They did.

Early On

A face mask penalty gave the Bengals new life on the very first possession of the game, when it could’ve easily been 3 and out.

Worse, Stephon Tuitt gets hurt, then Ricardo Mathews. That made the Steelers thin on the defensive front, but, a few plays like that gave me hope that the Steelers weren’t out of this game, and thank God they don’t think like some fans on social media (who wanted to throw in the towel midway through the second quarter).

I know, many were thinking, why wasn’t I throwing in the towel? Well, because Cincy wasn’t doing much to begin with.

The Steelers were clearly beating themselves.

The Steelers not only held on Cincy to 3 points on that first drive, but nearly held them to zero with 3 straight goal line stops. The Bengals, with nothing to play for (other than to hurt us; essentially, both on the field and our record) went for it on 4^th and inches.

Not much you’re going to do there, but there’s a few things to really complain about.

Penalties

I get the Bengals were the least penalized team in the league, but it also looks like the referees were conditioned to keep it that way.

There was a chop block (maybe) that took 6 points off the scoreboard? Bell lowered his shoulder, but was above the knees.

I guess “stuff” happens… but how you don’t end up calling some of the defensive holding or pass interference calls that can blatantly be seen in real time, even on TV, is beyond my comprehension.

Sammie Coates on the final drive to end the half? That is most certainly a hold, illegal contact and/or pass interference!

That took yards, and time away from the Steelers, when the Bengals were every bit the more a beneficiary earlier, when Artie Burns was called for similar (another of those “gifts” that benefited the Bengals early on).

Then, how many blown face mask calls were missed which would’ve benefited the Steelers?

At least two by my count: one on the double-teaming of Antonio Brown in the end zone, and yet another strike in the end zone intended for Sammie Coates.

Yet in the end, it was Vontaze Burfict and Pacman Jones who couldn’t help themselves as usual, and the officials finally saw some of those holds… yet, it felt like Pittsburgh was playing two teams for awhile.

Regardless, that’s what you have to play with, and the Steelers have to clean it up, and stop beating themselves.

Injuries

Just like penalties, I’m sick of mentioning injuries.

David DeCastro, Stephon Tuitt and Ricardo Mathews all went down in this game. I mean, we all know the “Standard is the Standard” but at some point, a backup is a backup.

Just when I thought this team was getting healty, they’re not again.

At least DeCastro returned in the second half, but ugh.

Then, Ladarius Green exited late, and may be in the concussion protocol. That’s not a good sign for a guy who has a history of concussions.

Hopefully this team comes out of this with nothing too serious that may impact the games to come.

Wizard of Boz

Was on the money today, hitting IDK how many field goals and basically being the ONLY scorer for the Steelers side in this game! (Okay, it was 6 field goals, tying a franchise record.)

Nice to see a clutch kicker getting it done in a high pressure environment, following an injury.

On the same note, not so nice to see Boz’ former replacement, Randy Bullock, doing the same for the Bengals!

Sky Kicks

I had been praising the attempts to get teams to start shorter than their own 25-yard line, by kicking balls short on kickoffs and forcing returners to come out; that didn’t seem to work Sunday, as the Steelers got torched on a kickoff return, and Cincy essentially walked one into the endzone.

This will probably end up in Terry’s WTF column too, but geez… a facemask penalty, a PI call, and a kickoff return all lead to Bengals points.

(Stop beating yourselves Pittsburgh!)

Eli Rogers

Finally, and I do mean finally (as it appeared to take all day) Eli Rogers: who was clutch today, when SOMEONE else needed to step up with Brown and Bell mostly contained on the day.

Rogers ended the day with 5 catches for 75 yards and a touchdown, and essentially won the game for the Steelers.

Possession

The Bengals had the ball for all of 3:10 of the 4th quarter, while Pittsburgh took the final drive and ran off nearly 6 minutes to finish the game with some kneel downs.

A few might question that pass call at the end, but man, I have to admire Tomlin and Haley’s guts, going for the juggular (and it would’ve worked if not for the penalty – which helped win the game anyways).

Overall, the Steelers had the ball for 21 minutes in the second half…

Second Half D

And they came away with a Lawrence Timmons interception, as well as holding the Bengals to ZERO points in the second half.

See what I mean by field position early on?

The defense wasn’t getting pushed around as much, and the Bengals didn’t really have an answer for it.

Oddly, both teams only registered a single sack: I’ll call that a victory for the Steelers offensive line, and a D- for the defense (see what I did there?)

Regardless, Dalton was under duress, and the D did it’s job.

And I can’t complain about that.

Conclusion

The Ravens lucked out once again with the Eagles going for 2 with 4 seconds left, and failing to convert; giving the Ravens a 1 point win.

That means Sunday’s Christmas Day showdown at Heinz Field is for all of the marbles. There’s still an outside chance the Steelers could lose, and end up in the postseason, but we don’t want to do the math, or see those odds.

Let’s take care of business by beating the Ratbirds!