CINCINNATI - During the first quarter it appeared as if the Bengals-Steelers rivalry was going to follow a usual pattern. Despite the Bengals being favored, the Steelers would gain momentum and end up winning in Paul Brown Stadium.
However that didn't happen on Monday night. After a rocky opening and being tied at 10 at halftime, Cincinnati took control in the second half and defeated Pittsburgh 20-10 in front of a national audience.
It is the Bengals first win on Monday night since the 2007 opener against Baltimore and ends a three-game MNF losing streak. More importantly, it evens their record at 1-1 with another tough test on Sunday against Green Bay.
"It means a lot. Just coming out after that big loss we had the first week, then coming back on prime time TV with a win. It feels great," said A.J. Green, who had six receptions for 41 yards.
It is also the Bengals' first win over the Steelers in prime time since a Thursday night game in 1995 and only their third in 15 meetings against them at Paul Brown Stadium. Pittsburgh is 0-2 for the first time since 2002.
AFC North matchups are not supposed to be artistic masterpieces. Most times they have all the aesthetic appeal of having a root canal. But this game followed a similar script to the other division matchup of Week 2 – close in the first half before the favored team takes control in the final 30 minutes.
"It was a good football game for us to win tonight. It was hard fought, very physical each quarter, and very close all the way through. So 46 guys got taxed to the moment today," coach Marvin Lewis said.
For the offense it was diametrically different halves. In the first half, 32 of the 42 plays were passes but in the second half they ran it on 23 of 36 snaps. The Bengals had 407 yards of total offense, which is the first time they have had over 300 against the Steelers since the 2005 Week 13 game in Pittsburgh.
Giovani Bernard scored both Bengals touchdowns and had 65 yards on nine offensive touches. With the score tied at 10 at halftime, Bernard scored the go-ahead points with a 27-yard touchdown on a little checkdown by Andy Dalton with 6 minutes, 8 seconds left in the third quarter.
It was the first reception of 20 yards or more by a Bengals running back since Brian Leonard had a 37-yard catch in Week 11 of 2011 against Baltimore. The Bengals were the only team in the league last year to not have a running back with a plus-20 reception.
"We drafted him to be a guy that's versatile; a guy that we can move around and catch the ball out of the backfield and make big plays. That's exactly what we've got out of him," said Dalton, who was 25 of 45 for 280 yards and a touchdown. "It's exciting to see him come out and play big in a game like this. He did a really good job."
BenJarvus Green-Ellis rebounded from the Chicago game and had 75 yards on 22 carries. In the fourth quarter, when the Bengals were grounding it out, Green-Ellis had 13 carries for 35 yards.
The 127 rushing yards by the Bengals is the second most they've had in Lewis' 11 seasons against the Steelers.
"Benny did a great job. Those last four or five minutes of the game were probably the biggest moments of the entire game," said Bernard, who had 8 carries for 38 yards along with the touchdown reception. "Those were critical we picked up those first downs and kept the clock running. Moments like that you have to take advantage of."
Dalton rebounded from a rocky first half. After completing 78 percent of his passes last week at Chicago, Dalton was 16 of 32 for 165 yards in the first half with a lot of his incompletions being overthrown. His first three passes weren't even in the same area code despite receivers being open.
It is only the second time in eight games that the Bengals have won a game when Dalton has thrown it more than 40 times.
"I'd like to come out and play better at the beginning of the game. But I thought I settled in at the end and really did a good job of moving the ball and getting first downs and doing what it took to win the game," Dalton said.
"In different drives we were doing different things. Getting the running game going was big for us because we were able to get some looks. It helped the passing game out. It was a well-rounded game."
With Green's longest reception being for 10 yards and the Steelers not allowing anything deep, it was up to the tight ends and other receivers to come up with big plays.
Tyler Eifert had the longest reception of the night during the first quarter on a 61-yarder to the Steelers 13 on a go route up the seam where he was uncovered. Two plays later, Bernard got a good block from Kyle Cook and scored his first NFL touchdown from 6 yards out to give the Bengals a 7-3 lead.
The scoring drive was set up when the Bengals won a replay challenge to get possession. Ben Roethlisberger completed a 34-yard pass to Dennis Paulson but Adam "Pacman" Jones forced the fumble and recovered it at the Bengals 17. It was originally ruled a catch and the whistle blew at the end of the play. Jones forced the fumble though before Paulson hit the ground.
The Steelers were already up 3-0 after a Shaun Suisham 44-yard field goal and looked like they were driving for another score.
Said Roethlisberger of the play: "It's hard because we don't know if it's a fumble. You see the crowd start going crazy and their sideline start reacting like they're going to challenge it, so at that moment you start thinking, "OK, we've got to hurry up and call one of the hurry up plays." So that's what we were trying to do, and (Bengals Head) Coach (Marvin) Lewis threw the (challenge) flag."
Jermaine Gresham had five receptions for 66 yards, with the longest being for 26 yards. Mohamed Sanu bounced back from his fumble in Chicago to have five catches for 40 yards.
While the nine penalties for 84 yards is something that will give Lewis fits, the one stat that pleased him the most was no turnovers.
Defensively, the Bengals held Pittsburgh to 278 yards, but only 44 were on the ground. It is only the third time since 1982 that the Steelers have gained less than 60 yards rushing against the Bengals.
Pittsburgh was 3 of 12 on third-down conversions. In the past two games against the Steelers, the Bengals have held them to 5 of 26 on third down.
Roethlisberger lost for only the third time in 19 NFL starts in the state of Ohio and was 20 of 37 for 251 yards with a touchdown and interception. The defense had steady pressure against him and got two sacks.
"We talked about that earlier in the week that it was going to be a tough, physical game. That's what it was. We were able to finish," said defensive end Michael Johnson. "We were in the same position we were in last week, where we were up and they kind of hung around. But this week, we were able to put our foot down and shut the door on them."
Added Roethlisberger: "It's frustrating. We had some big plays called back because of penalties, and just give them credit. They threw a lot of different looks at us and we didn't — I didn't— make enough plays to get it done tonight."
The Bengals took a 10-3 lead early in the second quarter on a Mike Nugent 41-yard field goal but the Steelers tied it late on a 1-yard touchdown from Roethlisberger to Derek Moye. The touchdown was set up by a 43-yard completion to Emmanuel Sanders to the Bengals 1.
For the second straight week, the Bengals looked awful on a drive at the end of the half. They let too much time elapse at the beginning of the series and drove to the Steelers 43 with five seconds left, where Dalton tried a Hail Mary that was batted away in the end zone.
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