It’s never easy in the AFC North, but the Cincinnati Bengals appear to be heading into one of the more lopsided encounters possible against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3.
Those Steelers aren’t the Mike Tomlin Steelers anymore. Their landscape right now is headlined by the Joey Porter Jr. contract standoff, a guy who was happy to give Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins bulletin-board material
despite perhaps not even playing.Porter’s Steelers are 1-1 without him, but Aaron Rodgers just took four sacks in a 20-3 loss to New England. As a whole, Rodgers’ offense has scored one touchdown in two games and gone 5-of-25 on third downs.
There's a reason the Bengals are favorites on the road.
Joe Burrow hasn’t even looked all that crisp yet, but his complementary
strong defense led by Dexter Lawrence has certainly lived up to the hype. It forced a flurry of turnovers in Week 1 while beating Tampa Bay, then held CJ Stroud and the Texans to six points in Week 2.
Even the injuries and absences seem to favor the Bengals. Porter missing or being on a snap count is a boon for Chase and Higgins. And Rodgers’ shaky line could throw out at least two new faces against Lawrence, Jonathan Allen and the rest of a deep, effective Bengals front seven.
This is the AFC North and this is Bengals-Steelers, of all rivalries, so wild things can happen. But the Lawrence-led defense is humming going into a favorable matchup and it feels like this is the part of the year where Burrow really gets going, too.
If the Bengals keep TJ Watt in check, it should be a pretty smooth day on the way to 3-0.
Prediction: Bengals 24, Steelers 14
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Final score predictions for Bengals vs. Steelers in Week 3
