Winless on the season and playing at home in Pittsburgh against the 0-3 Cincinnati Bengals, the Steelers had to have Monday night’s game to have any shot at salvaging their season.
Well, they got it with a 27-3 win over the punchless Bengals.
With Ben Roethlisberger out for the season with an elbow injury, Mason Rudolph threw for 229 yards and two scores and saw Pittsburgh’s backfield of Jaylen Samuels and James Conner rack up more than 250 yards of total offense, much of it coming on short dump-off passes.
On the other side of the ball, Bengals’ quarterback Andy Dalton barely had time to throw the ball and was sacked eight times by an opportunistic Pittsburgh pass-rush. The Bengals kicked a field goal in the first quarter but were held scoreless over the final 51 minutes.
Dalton finished 21-of-37 for 171 yards and his only completed pass into the end zone was an interception in the fourth quarter.
No stopping him on this one‼️ pic.twitter.com/Ekpai95VUr
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 1, 2019
.@Bud_Dupree with the hit, @_TJWatt with the scoop. pic.twitter.com/LdywGVulta
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 1, 2019
.@JaySam1k scores his first TD of 2019. pic.twitter.com/zUrMN9LGwE
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 1, 2019
Got him!!@Rudolph2Mason ➡️ @Juiceup__3 pic.twitter.com/GsLe2ngEYt
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 1, 2019
Not in our house 😏 pic.twitter.com/LQtQZtqqnx
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 1, 2019
At 1-3 after the win, the Steelers are incredibly only a game out of being tied for first place in the AFC North as the division-leading Ravens and Browns are only 2-2. The Steelers will control their own destiny as they host Baltimore on Sunday.
Now 0-4, Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor is the second first-year coach to drop his first four games with the Bengals. The first, Sam Wyche, started 0-5 in 1984 but was able to guide his team to an 8-8 finish.
If Taylor can do that with this year’s version of the Bungles, it’ll be nothing short of a miracle. He gets a good shot at starting that process in Week 5 as Cincinnati hosts the winless Cardinals.
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