The Cincinnati Bengals should serve as the perfect antidote for what ails the Pittsburgh Steelers, if only it wasn’t for the Cleveland Browns.

Beating the winless Bengals should be a given. They haven’t defeated the Steelers since 2015, and are one loss shy of setting a record for worst start in franchise history. The Steelers beat the Bengals by 24 points in the first meeting in late September, their largest margin of victory this season.

The Steelers (5-5) say they are looking at the Bengals (0-10) as nothing but an AFC North opponent and their game Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati as a must-win.

“We’ve got to get that done. We’ve got to take care of business,” Steelers inside linebacker Vince Williams said. “The Bengals are a hungry football team. They’re starving to get that first win. Those guys aren’t going to go out there and lay down for us just because of their current circumstance.

“If anything, it’s going to make them want to kick our butts even worse, especially with what we put on film against Cleveland.”

But the Browns are hanging over the Steelers like a black cloud, from the fallout of their 21-7 victory Nov. 14 to their impending rematch Dec. 1 at Heinz Field. That’s two games in 17 days, sandwiched around the Bengals.

The Steelers have to be wary of getting caught looking ahead for revenge. Not only did they lose a pair of Pro Bowl players in running back James Conner and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster to injuries, but All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey to a two-game suspension for his role in the brawl with Myles Garrett.

Garrett’s accusation in his appeal that quarterback Mason Rudolph incited their fight with a racial slur only created more distractions and drama for the Steelers, who spent the week answering questions about the Browns instead of the Bengals. Not that it’s a new phenomenon.

Williams laughed when I mentioned distractions, pausing to make air quotes with his fingers as he said the word.

“Come on, man. We’re the Steelers. We’re the Steelers,” Williams said, repeating himself for emphasis. “Every year, there’s drama, whether we create it or the media created it, whatever. We didn’t create this. It just happens. If anybody is plated up for the ‘distraction game,’ it’s us. When are we not distracted? It’s life in the National Football League.

“They’re going to want to beat us anyway. This is Steelers-Bengals, no matter what. We’ve just got our mind on our mission and that’s to go out there and get an AFC North road victory. And we’re going to get it done.”

Not so fast: This is exactly the type of late-season game the Steelers have lost under Mike Tomlin. They lost to the 1-8 New York Jets in 2007 and ’14, to the 2-7 Kansas City Chiefs in ’09, to the 2-8 Browns in ’12 and to the 2-10 Raiders last season.

When the Steelers beat the Bengals, 27-3, on Sept. 30, it was their first win of the season and first of five in a six-game span. But they are now short on skill players and scoring, with kicker Chris Boswell being their best weapon. Fortunately, Boswell is 24 of 24 on field-goal attempts in his career against Cincinnati.

The Bengals are better since their loss to the Steelers, even if their record doesn’t reflect it. They changed quarterbacks, going from Andy Dalton to Ryan Finley, and revved up their running game with Joe Mixon. The Bengals have lost four of their last six by 10 points or fewer, including a 17-10 loss at Oakland last Sunday.

“I don’t look at it as a winless team. It’s an AFC North opponent and they’re different from when we played them last,” Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. “We’ve got to play better football than we did on Thursday, and we’ve had a long week to think about it. For us to think we’re going to see that team we just saw would just not be right. You’ve got to focus on the Bengals. If you don’t focus on the Bengals, it’s just not fair.”

It’s not right or fair, but it’s there.

And it’s hanging over the Steelers, who better focus on beating the Bengals. If they don’t take the antidote, the rematch with the Browns won’t matter much anyway.

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