The Pittsburgh Steelers are taking on their third divisional opponent in as many weeks Sunday in Cincinnati. The Steelers are an even 1-1 against the AFC North so far this season. They’ve got one win at home against the Baltimore Ravens, their top competitor for the division title. Pittsburgh followed that up with a tough loss to the lowly Cleveland Browns the next week. The Steelers now travel to Ohio once again to take on the Cincinnati Bengals.
Cincinnati certainly hasn’t had the season it’s desired. The Bengals are familiar with slow starts over the past couple of years, but they’ve found this one a bit difficult to come back from. At 4-7, if they want to keep any hope at a playoff run alive, they’ve absolutely got to beat the Steelers on Sunday. However, this is a critical game for Pittsburgh as well.
Every week, the NFL’s official Youtube channel releases a preview video for each game on the weekly slate. At the end of each video, 10 of their analysts try and predict both the winning team, and the final score. In their video for the Steelers-Bengals matchup, the analysts are evenly split.
Looking at the matchup on paper, it seems a bit confusing as to why the predictions are so balanced. The Steelers, with their 8-3 record have been much better on the season than the Bengals. Pittsburgh’s currently holding one of the top seeds in the AFC, while the Bengals are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
However, the argument can also be made that Cincinnati is a better team than its record shows. They lost several close games early in the season. Those include a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs after a pass-interference penalty gave the Chiefs a chance to win the game with a field goal as time expired and a brutal loss to the New England Patriots at home. If just those two games go differently, we’re probably having a different conversation about the Bengals right now.
Still, losing games they should have won is something the Bengals have rightly been called out for. They’re going up against a very talented Steelers team. Pittsburgh’s proven its ability to beat some very good teams this year. The Steelers are in better shape, but as these predictions show, they can’t take their divisional rival lightly.
