The Cincinnati Bengals can win their fifth straight game, finish the season with a winning record and keep slim playoff hopes alive by taking down the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 18.
Doing so will require another stellar performance from Joe Burrow and the soaring offense, this time on primetime in a Saturday night slot.
Should the Bengals win, they would await Sunday’s Week 18 results, needing Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos losses to slip into the playoffs.
First things first, taking care of their own business. The Bengals have won four in a row on the back of heavyweight performances from Burrow, who willed the team to an overtime triumph against Denver via 412 yards and three touchdowns, all three scores going to Tee Higgins.
While it’s not saying much, given how terrible it was all season, Cincinnati’s defense has improved over the four-game stretch since coaches simplified things.
As always, those Steelers won’t be an easy out. Mike Tomlin has already said Pittsburgh won’t rest starters, mostly because they have lost three in a row and hitting on a four-game skid before a playoff game wouldn’t exactly be ideal.
A week ago, Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson threw for just 205 yards and an interception in a blowout loss to Kansas City.
Divisional games are always tricky to project, but the quarterback difference in this matchup is drastic. Burrow would be in the MVP conversation if his team had been winning more games. He’s set an NFL record with eight straight games of at least 250 passing yards and three touchdowns. He’s leading the league in completions (423), yards passing (4,641) and touchdown passes (42).
And he’s got Ja’Marr Chase, who should become the rare Triple Crown winner as his 117 catches for 1,612 yards and 16 touchdowns puts him well ahead of the rest of the league in most categories.
It certainly helps that during this recent Steelers collapse, the defense has coughed up north of 400 yards per game. Burrow should be able to exploit that, eliminating his own poor defense’s erratic play from the equation.
Prediction: Bengals 30, Steelers 24
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