Monday Night – Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

They’re baaaaaaack. We’ve already seen Round 1 of these two teams squaring off in 2017 and now it’s time for round 2. The AFC North title and playoff hopes are on the line here which only intensifies a game between two teams that already hate each other. What’s better than a football game between two teams with bad blood? Nothing. The hits will be fierce, the celebrations will be outlandish and the game will be great. Get your popcorn ready, because you’re not going to want to leave your seat this Monday night.

Keys to the Game

Steelers

An all out offensive assault against Cincy should get the job done here. The Bengals have a little firepower of their own, but not the kind necessary to keep up with Pittsburgh’s Killer B’s. Big Ben, Bell and Brown can run the Bengals out of town by dropping 30 or 40 points on them. Andy Dalton will be forced to drop back and chuck it every time out, but he can only complete so many passes to A.J. Green. The rest will likely fall to the ground or go for modest gains and not touchdowns. The Bengals just won’t be able to hang.

Bengals

Cincy needs to get after Big Ben and force him into making bad plays. Roethlisberger never wants to give up on a play and sometimes that gets him in trouble. The Bengals need to capitalize on that. They should be able to force a couple of turnovers if they get enough pressure and then Andy Dalton needs to strike. A.J. Green will probably be double-covered every time he comes to the line, so they might need to get creative and maybe get the ball to Gio Bernard out of the backfield and out in space. If they can keep that Pittsburgh defense off balance, they should have any issues getting into the endzone.