The Pittsburgh Steelers always seem to be front and center whenever it comes to a major rivalry within the AFC North. Their games against the Baltimore Ravens still draw eyes, but there was a time not so long ago when Steelers games against the Cincinnati Bengals were dominating prime time. And it wasn’t always just about football.
During the early- to mid-2010s, it seemed, the two would compete on an almost annual basis for divisional supremacy. And it often came down to the games they played against one another. Those games turned into bloodbaths, and extracurricular activity became the norm, driven largely by one man: former Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict.
Former Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell has no love lost for Burfict, who has largely been quiet since retiring, but when he played, he was infamous for being the dirtiest player in the game. His bank account would know that well, since he lost quite a lot of money between fines and game checks lost due to suspension.
“They used to have dirty dudes”, Bell recalled about the Steelers-Bengals games of that era, recently talking with Kevin Adams and Jersey Jerry on the Steel Here podcast. “He had the whole team playing like that”, he said of Burfict.
Bell recently called out Burfict on social media, accusing him of deliberately injuring him, ultimately challenging him to a boxing match, which is what Bell now does since last appearing in the NFL. He said that he would “beat the dog shit out of him”.
Burfict later came out and said that instead of fighting they should get together and talk it out and bury the hatchet and do something for charity. Bell wasn’t very impressed, however, as he recounted on the podcast, both himself and his hosts chalking it up to the former linebacker knowing that he would lose. “He knew that”, Bell said.
One wonders how many other Steelers players from that era have certain feelings about the Bengals. The typically mild-mannered David DeCastro had some of his most animated moments in those games, for example, including a couple of run-ins with Burfict.
“We knew y’all was trying to play a certain way”, Bell said, referring to the Bengals, accusing them of intentionally engaging in ‘dirty’ play with the purpose of injuring their opponents in non-football ways. “The Pittsburgh Steelers, we played clean”.
I’m sure Bengals players from that time might have something to say about all that as well, and perhaps maybe we’ll even hear more on that. Pacman Jones apparently makes appearances on the Pat McAfee Show now, so if they get wind of this story, maybe we’ll get a rebuttal of sorts.
