This was one of the craziest and wackiest season openers ever. The Pittsburgh Steelers somehow overcame the many, many kicking errors this game had to offer as they beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the dying seconds of OT.
The injury bug hit this game HARD. Every one of Cincinnati’s wide receivers, apart from Jamar Chase, went down with an injury, while nearly everyone on Pittsburgh’s starting D-Line went out at some point in this game. Even the Bengals long-snapper was forced out of the game with a bicep injury (which came back to haunt the Bengals massively).
In truth, if it wasn’t for the daunting number of injuries, the Steelers would have won this game in the first half. That absolutely dominated the Bengals, especially Joe Burrow.
On Burrow’s very first throw of the season, he threw the ball right into Steelers safety’s, Minkah Fitzpatrick, chest, giving him a clear path to the endzone for the first ‘Pick-6′ of the season, as well as the Steelers first touchdown.
And the Steelers defense just kept coming for Burrow.
They ended up forcing 4 interceptions from Burrow and sacked him 7 times (with linebacker Alex Highsmith getting 3), even with the Bengals new offensive line.
If this game showed us anything it’s that not only is the city of Cincinnati a curse for every single offensive lineman who plays there, but also that Burrow must be the most patient quarterback in the league.
I don’t know any other elite quarterback in the NFL today that would put up with getting drilled by 350 lbs. lineman 5-8 times a game for seventeen weeks straight.
Are the Bengals management actually trying to get Burrow killed before he turns 30?
Maybe, but the only thing was definitely getting killed today was the Bengals chances of winning. Led by Mitchell Trubisky, the Steelers had a 17-6 lead going into halftime. The rejuvenated Trubisky actually had a really good game (by his Bears day’s standards) as he threw for 194 yards, 1 TD, and didn’t turn the ball over once.
Of course, he’s not the future of this team as they drafted rookie QB Kenny Pickett from the University of Pittsburgh for that. Nevertheless, with the Steelers this season, Trubisky has his best chance since he was drafted 3rd overall by the Bears back in 2017 to prove he is a starting QB in this league.
Anyway, back to the game, Joe Burrow shook off his rust and began playing like the AFC Champion QB he is. Coming out of the half, Burrow drove the Bengals down the field with some clutch throws to Jamar Chase and Tyler Boyd, who ended up catching a 5-yard TD pass to make the game 17-14 with 4:41 to go in the 3rd quarter.
Now, the Steelers offense were able to score two more field goals to extend their lead to 20-14, while their defense held the Bengals to 0 points in the 4th Quarter until 1:27 left of the game. The Bengals had the ball on their own 40-yard line and needed a TD to win.
Could Joe Burrow lead his team once again to another incredible victory, even though he had already thrown 4 INTS against that Steelers defense? Well, the answer should be obvious. Of course, he could.
Burrow picked apart the Steelers secondary to set up a 10-yard TD pass to Jamar Chase with just 2 seconds left in the game, tying the score at 20 to set up kicker Evan McPherson with an easy PAT to win the Bengals season opener at home.
Well, I thought it was going to be easy but, since the Bengals’ starting long-snapper went down injured in the first half, backup tight end Michael Wilcox had to fill in at the position. And what a disaster that ended up being.
His snap on the PAT was too slow, giving Minkah Fitzpatrick enough time to shed his blocker and block McPherson’s kick, keeping the Steelers in the game and sending it to OT.
And, in OT, Wilcox’s struggles continued. Burrow led the Bengals down the field after a failed Steelers possession and set up McPherson with an even easier 29-yard field goal to win the game.
But Wilcox’ ensuing snap nearly went over the holder’s, Kevin Huber, head, causing him to not be able to turn the laces of the ball away from McPherson’s foot.
Thus, McPherson missed another kick to win the game, giving the Steelers the ball back to the utter horror of the Cincinnati crowd. If I was Michael Wilcox, I’d bunker down in my house for the rest of the week. He’s got to be a wanted man by the Bengals fans.
Anyway, the Steelers couldn’t possibly waste their golden chance to put this game to bed. Right? RIGHT, Chris Boswell?!?
Actually, they did as the Steelers kicker, Chris Boswell, clanked his ensuing game-winning kick off the post, causing every Steelers fan’s heart to sink into their chests as possession switched hands again, giving the Bengals 2 minutes of OT to win the game.
Still, when that ball thumped off the post, I thought this game was going to end as a tie. Obviously, both teams were cursed by the Football Gods as they just had THREE game-winning kicks hilariously fail in a row.
Surely, there wasn’t enough time (or faith in the kicking department) for either team to win?
Thankfully for the Steelers fans, I was wrong as their defense stopped Burrow again, giving Trubisky another opportunity to drive the ball down the field and set up Boswell for another game winning kick.
And, this time, he made it as time expired, giving the Steelers their first win of the season in some of the craziest circumstances I’ve ever seen.
Imagine if every game was as wild as this one? People would have to stop watching or risk suffering a heart attack every week.
Fortunately for the Bengals, this is just the first game of their AFC Title defense season. They have more than enough time to iron out some of the turnover that plagued them in the first half.
As for the Steelers, they played a great defensive game to earn their first win of the season. I was a little skeptical about this team coming into the season. But if they continue to play as they did today, then they should just about sneak into the 7th and final Wild Card spot.
Though, they will need to be a little more ruthless on offense for that to happen. They had the Bengals on the ropes in that first half but let Burrow back into the game. They can’t allow any team, let alone a great one such as the Bengals, to comeback when they are struggling.
The Steelers were lucky the Bengals lost their long-snapper as that is what ensured them their win today.
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