Tim Benz: 'Airing of Grievances' after yet another Steelers gut-punch loss

The Pittsburgh Steelers need to get those pigeons back at Acrisure Stadium.

Seriously, there were at least 30 of them out there last week.

The Pittsburgh Pigeons have the best seat in the house pic.twitter.com/GTkO9qg1tn

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 13, 2022

Maybe if the Steelers had 41 defenders on the field against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, instead of just 11, they would have had a prayer of stopping quarterback Joe Burrow and company.

Without any avian reinforcements, though, the Steelers ended up getting sliced apart by a Cincy offensive attack that was missing two of its best players, falling 37-30.

On Thursday, we can all sit around the dinner table and tell each other what we are thankful for in 2022. Right now, though, we have a Steelers loss to wrap up after they have fallen to 3-7. So let’s get the angst out of our systems in our weekly “Airing of Grievances.”

So much for that theory: Even with the Steelers at 2-6 entering the bye, there were some trying to spin optimism about a second-half resurgence.

That hope was centered around the notion that once All-Pro linebacker T.J. Watt returned, the defense would be good enough to carry the team.

With a solid 20-10 win against the New Orleans Saints last week, the premise appeared to have some merit. Especially since the Steelers held New Orleans to a scant 186 yards of total offense, even without safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Heading into Sunday’s game against the Bengals, Fitzpatrick was back from his appendectomy, and the Steelers defense was the healthiest it has been since the start of the season. The only starter the unit was missing was cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon.

Yet the Bengals gobbled up 408 yards in total offense and posted 37 points. They had two touchdown drives that exceeded 90 yards.

“We weren’t winning our one-on-ones,” Fitzpatrick said. “They were making good plays on the ball down the field. Catching out routes, extending the play after that. We’ve got to tighten up in the back end — coverage wise — and put pressure on the quarterback. It’s too easy.”

Those drives of 92 and 93 yards totaled 18 plays. Cincinnati ate up 11 minutes, 23 seconds of possession time in the process of scoring those 14 points.

Costly substitutions: On the Bengals’ first touchdown drive — their third possession of the game — Watt sat out a batch of plays at the beginning of the sequence, yielding some snaps to Malik Reed. Alex Highsmith was out for a few plays at the end of the drive, including a touchdown toss to Samaje Perine. Jamir Jones was on the field instead.

To the house!#CINvsPIT | CBS pic.twitter.com/Moc13WQgTB

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 20, 2022

Defensive lineman Cameron Heyward wasn’t on the field for that play either.

During the Bengals’ second touchdown drive, Perine scored again with Heyward on the sideline.

1 wasn't enough for @samajp32 #CINvsPIT | CBS pic.twitter.com/KyZrq9bkBT

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 20, 2022

Burrow was barely bothered on that second TD drive. He completed all seven pass attempts for 79 yards on a 10-play, 92-yard touchdown march.

Also, take a look at that attempt at a tackle from Robert Spillane on the TD catch-and-run by Perine. Woof!

On a 33-yard pass to Tee Higgins in the third quarter, both Watt and Heyward were off the field.

If the Steelers are going to load-manage their defensive stars, then the collective group can’t have such an obvious dip in production when they are out.

Third-quarter crumble: The Steelers offense was a joke in the third quarter. It had four possessions and had four three-and-outs, gaining a meager 24 yards.

One of the possessions was especially vexing. Trailing 24-20, Watt grabbed an interception at the Bengals’ 21-yard line.

TJ Watt just intercepted it out of thin air @_TJWatt

: #CINvsPIT on CBS⁰: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/4yWkrypYYE pic.twitter.com/VsSiVgo5Yf

— NFL (@NFL) November 20, 2022

That immediately followed the Steelers’ third straight punt to start the half. Yet the Steelers offense could do nothing with that gift. So they just kicked a short field goal on fourth down.

“I felt really good about the first half,” offensive lineman Kevin Dotson said. “In my mind, we were on track for 40 points. The second half was pretty disappointing. I couldn’t give you a true formula of what happened. … They didn’t do anything (in the second half) that would’ve killed our whole offense. Stuff just stopped hitting, stopped clicking.”

Meanwhile, the Bengals scored 10 points out of the locker room and took a 27-23 lead into the fourth quarter after trailing 20-17 at half.

More Steelers:

• Steelers defense fails to hold up in loss to Bengals
• Steelers offense shows positive signs early before regressing
• ‘Any player would be frustrated’ — Diontae Johnson lacking production in Steelers offense
• Mason Cole, Jaylen Warren among Steelers injured during defeat to Bengals

Next man up: The Bengals’ depth on offense was tested. But it was the Steelers defense that failed to pass the test.

The Bengals got by fine without star receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Higgins filled the void with 148 yards on nine catches.

Starting running back Joe Mixon left the game in the second quarter. He was being evaluated for a concussion and didn’t return. Perine replaced him with three touchdown receptions. Heyward referred to the defense allowing a hat trick of receiving touchdowns to a running back as “mind-boggling.”

“When you’re dealing with a pass rush, you have got to be able to have something to accommodate that, or counter that,” Heyward said. “We have to be a defense that adjusts. If they do one thing, they can’t keep going back to the well. And we did not clean that up on defense.”

Burrow also got mileage out of Trenton Irwin. He caught three balls for 41 yards and a touchdown in his first game of the season. He was just elevated from the practice squad for this game.

Regretful recurrence: The Steelers’ pre-snap penalty problem resumed after they were largely minimized a week ago.

Kenny Pickett got a false start in the second quarter. The special-teams unit was hit with a delay of game call before an extra point. And wide receiver Diontae Johnson got a false start.

Fortunately, those penalties didn’t result in much damage. Pickett overcame his penalty to throw a touchdown pass on the next play to George Pickens. That brought the Steelers within 17-16. Matthew Wright hit the ensuing PAT despite the delay of game. And the Steelers wound up with a field goal before halftime despite Johnson’s penalty to start that drive.

So if you are looking for a silver lining, that’s as close as I can get.

On the penalties, or just about anything else.