Coming into the season, most talking heads around the NFL world thought the AFC North would be very competitive. It was in 2023, with all four teams finishing with a winning record. However, one of the teams originally expected to be a serious playoff contender, the Cincinnati Bengals, have stumbled out of the gate to start the year with a 4-7 record. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin seems to think that’s a fair assessment for the team.
Tomlin shared his thoughts on the Week 13 edition of The Mike Tomlin Show, posted on the Steelers’ official YouTube channel on Saturday.
“You know, they’re [Bengals] a good football team,” Tomlin said. “But, like Bill Parcells says, you are what your record says you are. They haven’t won the close ones, but I doubt that has affected their feeling about themselves. They’ve got some talented players, they just haven’t made some plays in the waning moments, really in all three phases.”
Tomlin is certainly right about the Bengals not winning the close ones. Cincinnati opened up the season with a brutal loss to the New England Patriots at home. Since then, they’ve lost by one to the Kansas City Chiefs, by five to the Washington Commanders, and have lost two games to the Baltimore Ravens by a combined four points. Most recently, Cincinnati lost on a late fourth-quarter touchdown to the Los Angeles Chargers after a furious 21-point comeback effort.
With seven losses, the Bengals can’t afford another one. Many have made the argument that the Bengals are better than their record suggests. Considering all of those close losses, there’s reason to believe that. However, as Tomlin alludes to, the Bengals also do deserve that record, in a sense. They’ve been the antithesis of ‘clutch’ this season, and have found a way to lose just about every close game they’ve been a part of.
With that said, this won’t be a cakewalk for Pittsburgh. While the Steelers have beaten some quality opponents, they’ve also dropped games to teams they absolutely should have beat. Pittsburgh might have a little more to prove, in that regard.
The Bengals are a very beatable team, and a win is exactly what Pittsburgh needs to keep up in the divisional race. Based on how Cincinnati’s season has gone, if the game comes down to the wire, Pittsburgh might have the advantage.
