The 1-3 Steelers headed to Paul Brown Stadium to play the 1-3 Bengals in a divisional clash that would help at least temporarily save one team’s season. Pittsburgh had been the victims of 3 last minute drives and could easily be 4-0 or 0-4. Cincy has been in every game as well, but their porous defense just can not be counted on to support their world class offense.
1st Qtr: Both teams exchanged TD’s. PIT struck first when Ben Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward for a 5 yard bullet in the back of the end zone. Four minutes later Carson Palmer returned the favor with a 13 yard strike to Chad “OchoCinco” Johnson.
2nd Qtr: The Steelers went on an 8 play drive that stalled on Cincy’s 25 and had to settle for a Jeff Reed 42 yarder to make it 10-7. Palmer hit Chris Henry for 35 yards to get down to the Steeler 26, but 
tried to force the next one into triple coverage on OchoCinco and All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu picked it off in the end zone for a touch back. Big Ben decided to be generous and he too threw an ill-advised pick to Odell Thurman who was double covering Ward. Cincy took over in great field position (PIT-12) after Thurman had a great 20 yard INT return. The next three plays would be all Rudi Johnson, who gained 9 yards on the first one, 2 on the second and a 1 yard TD run on the 3rd. Cincy was now up 14-10. Mewelde Moore took full advantage of a shallow Shayne Graham kick off and PIT started off on their own 46. Ben was ticked and he came out chucking. Nate Washington caught one for 16 to put the ball on Cincy’s 38. Two plays later Limas Sweed had a 9 yard grab for another 1st. Facing a 3rd and 4 from the 19, Ben saw that the Bengals were lined up with 8 in the box and went for it all by hitting TE Heath Miller on a corner route for a TD. The Steelers were now up 17-14. With 6:31 left to play in the half Cincy was starting from their own 31 down by 3. Palmer immediately hit Kevin Walker on a crossing route for 17. Two plays later they were in Steeler territory when Reggie Kelley to a flare pass and ran 15 yards to PIT’s 49. Unfortunately for Kelley, he came up lame on the play and was gone for the game with an ankle injury. Palmer continued to slice and dice the normally reliable, if not 
outstanding, Steeler defense. It all came down to a 4th and goal from the Steeler 7 and rather than elect to hit the chip shot FG Cincy went for it. Carson Palmer dropped back and saw nobody open and was immediately flushed from the pocket and tacked for no gain as PIT took over on downs. PIT ran out the clock and took a 3 point lead into the locker room at the half.
3rd Qtr: The Steelers came out of the locker room with a game
plan predicated on milking the clock and shortening the game, so that Cincy’s lighting strike offense didn’t get that many chances. PIT seemed to abandon that plan for the get-go when Ben hit Santonio Holmes for 38 yards on a play action bomb that trapped the Bengals in a all out run D. That put the ball on Cincy’s 22 and 4 plays later “Fast” Willie Parker knifed in from the 1 for a TD. The score was now 24-14 Steelers. In a complete reversal of strategies the Bengals took a page out of the Steeler handbook and went on a 12 play drive that culminated in a 6 yard TD toss from Palmer to Ocho-Cinco. That drive consumed almost 7 minutes off the clock and took 12 plays. PIT’s lead was now cut to 3 (24-21).
4th Qtr: At the start of the final quarter the Steelers were already on the Bengals 29. Ben hit Heath Miller for 13 yards to get 
down to Cincy’s 14. On the following play he went for it all and caught Nate Washington beating the cover 2 for a 14 yard strike. PIT was now up 31-21 with 12:26 left to play. Both teams exchanged 3 and outs and with 6:09 left Cincy made it a 1 score game with a Shayne Graham 45 yard FG. With 6 minutes left to go the Steelers needed a long drive that would eat clock. Cincy knew this as well and loaded up for the run. Ben figured this might happen and hit Ward with a 22 yard play action pass that would move the chains to mid-field. At that point the Steelers went super conservative and were forced to punt. Mitch Berger hit a mediocre 36 yarder that Keiwan Ratliff caught on his
own 23. Ratliff shook off one defender and turned upfield. When he struggled for extra yards the ball popped out, and Ike Taylor recovered it for the Steelers on the Bengal 33. Coach McConkey of Cincinnati was livid that his return man would make such a stupid play with just under three and a half minutes left to go. Knowing how potent the Bengal offense is, Coach Weiss of the Steelers decided against laying conservative. Cincy was burning time outs as Ben was completing passes left and right. With 1:39 left 
to go Ben hit Carey Davis in the flat and Davis weaved in and out of traffic for a 7 yard score that made it 38-24 to seal the deal…or so everyone thought until Tab Perry returned Jeff Reed’s kick off 69 yards to the Steeler 2. Rudi Johnson punched it in from 2 yards out as he talent overtook a Steeler short yardage defense that was waiting for him. Graham’s onside kick was recovered by Pittsburgh and the game was over after Ben took 2 knees.
Stats: Roethlisberger was 23-29-285-4TD-Int. He spread the ball around to 9 different receivers. Rudi Johnson had a field day on the ground vs a Steeler run D that had not allowed a runner to break the century mark. Johnson was 25-128-2TD for a whopping 5.1 ypc. OchoCinco was 8-113-2TD. Neither QB was sacked.
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