Bengals blow up, hand win to Steelers
CINCINNATI— The Pittsburgh Steelers are heading to Denver. The Cincinnati Bengals are heading to another long off-season after a meltdown as ugly and ill-timed as it was complete.
Chris Boswell kicked a 35-yard field goal with14 seconds remaining as the Steelers somehow pulled out an18-16 victory in the AFC wild-card game Saturday night.
Pittsburgh moved into field goal position after a pair of 15-yard penalties on the Bengals, one on linebacker Vontaze Burfict and another on Adam Jones after Burfict hit defenceless Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown. Boswell drilled his fourth field goal of the game to give the Steelers their first playoff win since the 2010 AFC championship game.
The Bengals appeared to be in position for their first post-season win in 25 years before Jeremy Hill’s fumble gave Pittsburgh one last shot.
Roethlisberger left with a right shoulder injury on the final play of the third quarter but returned for Pittsburgh’s last-gasp drive. Unable to throw with any real authority, he still managed to get the Steelers near midfield with 22 seconds to go when he threw high to Brown in Cincinnati territory.
Burfict, whose sack of Roethlisberger sent the quarterback to the locker room, lowered his shoulder as Brown landed. The volatile linebacker earned a personal foul. Jones compounded the problem when he lost his cool, easily putting Boswell within field goal range after Cincinnati’s eighth — and final — flag of an un- sightly night.
Roethlisberger finished 18-of-31 for 229 yards and a touchdown in rainy conditions. Jordan Todman and Fitzgerald Toussaint combined for 123 yards rushing filling in for DeAngelo Williams.
Still, it hardly seemed like it would be enough. AJ McCarron put together a late rally after Martavis Bryant’s somersaulting touchdown grab gave the Steelers a 15-0 lead heading into the final quarter.
Cincinnati ripped off 16 straight points, the last six on a 25-yard strike from McCarron to A.J. Green that put the Bengals in front. They missed the 2-point conversion.
When Burfict intercepted Landry Jones on Pittsburgh’s ensuing possession, Cincinnati and coach Marvin Lewis appeared ready to end the sixth-longest post-season drought in NFL history.
Then, the team that said it would keep it together fell completely apart.
Hill saw the ball pop out as Cincinnati tried to run out the clock and the Steelers recovered at the Pittsburgh 9 with 1:23 left. Just enough time for Roethlisberger — with plenty of help from Cincinnati — to send the Steelers to Denver and a rematch with the Broncos, whom Pittsburgh beat 3427 on Dec. 20.
Another long winter looms in Cincinnati.
Aaron Rodgers has been a Super Bowl champion and a two-time NFL MVP. He owns the best passer rating in league history. His Green Bay Packers are in the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.
Kirk Cousins started a grand total of nine regular-season games entering this season, and his only postseason experience to date consists of 10 passes as a backup.
Yet heading into Sunday’s playoff matchup between the wild-card Packers (10-6) and NFC East champion Redskins (9-7), a topic of debate in the D.C. area this week was which of the two QBs would be the player you’d want for the next five years.
The Redskins are not exactly disparaging Rodgers.
"He’s still got 31touchdowns . . . he’s still got the intangibles of an elite QB," Washington cornerback Bashaud Breeland said.