The Pittsburgh Steelers will play another Monday night game in week 15 and this time they’ll do so on the road against the 2-10-1 Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Not surprisingly, the Steelers are heavy favorites ahead of that AFC North contest and they open Week 15 as 12.5-point consensus road favorites, according to vegasinsider.com.
The Bengals enter Week 15 having lost their most recent game at home to the Dallas Cowboys 30-7. It’s unclear as of Tuesday morning as to which quarterback will start for the Bengal’s against the Steelers as Brandon Allen is currently dealing with a bone bruise. He will reportedly start if healthy enough to do so. If he can’t however, Ryan Finley will start Monday night against the Steelers.
For the season, Allen is 55 of 84 on his pass attempts for 506 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Has also been sacked seven times in his limited playing time this season. As for Finley, he has attempted just 19 passes this season and completed 10 of them for 75 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He’ also been sacked seven times this season.
The Steelers leading receiver entering Week 15 is wide receiver Tyler Boyd, who has 78 receptions in 2020 for 840 yards and four touchdowns. Rookie wide receiver Tee Higgins leads the Bengals in touchdown receptions entering Week 15 with five on his 58 total receptions.
The Bengals leading rusher entering Week 15 is running back Joe Mixon, who is currently still on the team’s Reserve/Injured list and highly questionable to come off it by Monday night. Mixon has rushed for 428 yards and three touchdowns on 119 carries this season. Fellow running back Giovani Bernard is second on the team in rushing with 261 yards and two touchdowns on 80 total carries.
Defensively for the Bengals entering Week15, safety Vonn Bell leads the team in total tackles with 96. Defensive end Carl Lawson leads Cincinnati in sacks with 4.5 and the team has just 15 in total. Safety Jessie Bates III leads the Bengals in interceptions with three and in passes defensed with 14. The Bengals defense has just 12 takeaways on the season and have surrendered 34 total touchdowns to opposing offenses.
The Steelers and Bengals have met each other 102 times (including two postseason games), with Pittsburgh winning 67 games and Cincinnati winning 35 games. The two teams met earlier this season in Week 10 in Pittsburgh with the Steelers winning that game 36-10. The Steelers are 11-0 in their last 11 games against the Bengals and that includes one playoff meeting between the two teams. Their last loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati was in 2013.
For his career and including playoffs, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is 26-7 against the Bengals all-time and 15-2 on the road against them, including two playoff games.
A win Monday night by the Steelers would put them at 5-0 on the season in AFC North games. The Steelers can also clinch the AFC North in Week 15 if they beat the Bengals Monday night or ahead of that game if the Cleveland Browns lose to the New York Giants on Sunday night. The Steelers can also clinch the AFC North in week 15 if both they and the Browns both have their games end in ties.
