Well, that one had pretty much everything you could want from a Bengals – Steelers game — except the result Cincinnati wanted.
The Bengals walked into Acrisure Stadium at 2-0, traded punches with Pittsburgh for four quarters, and had the ball with a chance to win late. Instead, they walked out with their first loss of the 2026 season, falling 30-27 after Chris Boswell’s 33-yard field goal with 2:15 remaining.
There were plenty of positives to take from this one. There were also some very familiar problems.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from Cincinnati’s Week 3 loss.
The Good: Joe Burrow and the passing game
Joe Burrow was really good Sunday.
He completed 28 of 37 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns, finishing with a 123.9 passer rating. He also opened the game by completing his first 14 throws and was 18-of-21 for 152 yards and two scores at halftime.
More importantly, Burrow consistently made plays when the Bengals needed them.
Ja’Marr Chase hauled in nine passes for 98 yards and a touchdown, while Tee Higgins added six catches for 90 yards and a touchdown. Mike Gesicki also came through with a 25-yard touchdown grab on fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter to put Cincinnati ahead 27-24.
Chase also crossed the 7,000-yard mark for his career, becoming just the fourth player in NFL history to reach that milestone in 81 games or fewer. That’s quite the receiving duo.
And despite all the talk about Pittsburgh’s defense coming into this one, the Bengals moved the football. Cincinnati finished with 365 total yards, including 282 through the air.
The offense did enough to win this game.
The Good: Dexter Lawrence re-announces himself
If anyone was wondering what the Bengals were getting when they acquired Dexter Lawrence, Sunday provided another pretty good answer.
Lawrence recorded four tackles and two sacks of Aaron Rodgers, with both sacks coming on third down in the red zone. He also hit Rodgers three times and was a major reason Pittsburgh had to settle for field goals on its final two scoring drives.
This was Lawrence’s first Bengals-Steelers game, and he certainly made an introduction.
The defense ultimately gave up 30 points, but Lawrence and the defensive front were giving Cincinnati opportunities to survive some of the mistakes happening elsewhere.
The Bad: The explosive plays allowed
The Bengals’ defense had some really good moments. It also gave up some plays that simply can’t happen late in a close game.
The biggest examples came on Pittsburgh’s go-ahead drive.
Darnell Washington caught a pass and turned it into a 47-yard gain, and Jaylen Warren followed it with a 26-yard run. Those two plays moved Pittsburgh from its own 8-yard line all the way down to the Cincinnati 6 and set up Boswell’s go-ahead field goal.
Warren finished with 127 rushing yards on 17 carries, while the Steelers produced 430 total yards. A trademark physical day from the Steelers.
The Bengals’ defense was able to stiffen in the red zone, but continually allowing explosive plays is eventually going to catch up with you. It did Sunday.
The Ugly: Special teams
This is where things really started to unravel.
The Bengals had a 20-17 lead in the third quarter when defensive end Cedric Johnson was flagged for roughing the punter, extending a Pittsburgh drive that eventually ended in a Steelers touchdown.
Then, with Cincinnati leading 27-24 in the fourth quarter, Ke’Shawn Williams muffed a punt, giving Pittsburgh the ball at the Bengals’ 14-yard line.
Ten Pittsburgh points came directly from those two special teams mistakes. That’s a massive swing in a three-point game.
Joe Burrow and the offense shouldn’t have to be perfect, but when you’re playing an AFC North rival on the road, you can’t keep handing the other team short fields and extra possessions.
The Ugly: The final drive
Unfortunately, this is what seemingly everyone will remember.
After Pittsburgh took a 30-27 lead, Cincinnati got the ball back with 2:08 remaining and still had a legitimate chance to win.
The Bengals eventually moved into Steelers territory, but a pass to Chase Brown for minus-4 yards started to derail things. With 44 seconds remaining and facing a 3rd-and-8, Burrow dropped back from the Pittsburgh 38-yard line looking for a shot at the end zone.
Derrick Harmon got to him, punched the ball out and Sebastian Joseph-Day recovered.
Ballgame.
Burrow said afterward that the Bengals were trying to take a shot into the end zone while avoiding a sack because they were already in field-goal range.
It’s tough to put the entire loss on that play. There were plenty of mistakes before it. But that’s the play that ultimately ended Cincinnati’s final chance.
The Bottom Line
The Bengals lost a game they absolutely had a chance to win.
That’s frustrating, especially because there was a lot to like. Burrow played well. Chase and Higgins were excellent. The offensive line did a strong job against T.J. Watt. Lawrence looked every bit like the defensive centerpiece Cincinnati hoped he would be.
But the Bengals also committed six penalties for 40 yards, made two costly special teams mistakes, and allowed Pittsburgh to hit them with too many explosive plays.
As Burrow put it after the game:
“We just can’t shoot ourselves in the foot like that. You can’t win in this league when you do that.”
That’s probably the simplest way to describe it.
At 2-1, the Bengals aren’t suddenly a bad football team. But they just got a pretty good reminder of how little room for error there is against a divisional opponent — particularly when you’re playing on the road.
And now comes the important part: seeing how they respond.
