CINCINNATI — A TV monitor in the Bengals’ postgame locker room showed a quote from the team’s founder.
“The key to winning is poise under stress — Paul Brown,” it read.
Consider that a lesson the Bengals need a lot of work on.
After staging a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback in driving rain, the Bengals collapsed in a penalty-filled final minute to lose 18-16 to the Steelers in the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs when Chris Boswell kicked a 35-yard field goal with 14 seconds left. The Steelers move on to face the Broncos next week in Denver.
The loss was stunning for Cincinnati, which has gone 25 years without a playoff win. The Bengals took a 16-15 lead with 1:50 left in the game, but after getting the ball back with a chance to ice it, Jeremy Hill fumbled with 1:23 left in the game. Ben Roethlisberger, who had been sidelined with a shoulder injury since the end of the third quarter, came off the bench to direct the game-winning drive.
The Bengals helped the Steelers out with a lack of discipline in the final minute. They committed back-to-back personal fouls that moved the ball 30 yards to the Bengals’ 17, from where Boswell hit the game-winner. Vontaze Burfict, who was out of control all night, took a cheap shot at Steelers receiver Antonio Brown for the first personal foul. Adam “Pacman” Jones then got flagged for another as he went after Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter, who was on the field.
“The Bengals did beat the Bengals today. How do you lose that game?” Cincy defensive end Carlos Dunlap said.
Jones left the locker room without answering questions, but posted an expletive-filled video on Instagram.
“The f—ing ref did a horrible f—ing job,” Jones said. He later deleted the post.
Burfict did not answer questions about his penalty, telling reporters they were “dumbass questions,” but did defend Jones, saying Porter was shouting at Bengals players.
“That’s why Adam pushed him. [Porter] shouldn’t be on the field cussing us out,” Burfict said. “The ref heard it all, but the ref threw the flag on Adam.”
The Bengals have lost five straight first-round games and have not won a playoff game since 1990. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis is 0-7 in the playoffs, but he refused to point the finger at Jones after the game.
“I’m not going to single out our guys,” Lewis said. “We had enough chances to win the football game.”
AJ McCarron looked as if he would not have to pay for another drink in Cincinnati for the rest of his life before the game-ending self-destruction by the Bengals. The backup quarterback rallied the Bengals from a 15-0 deficit and they took the lead on a 25-yard touchdown pass from McCarron to A.J. Green with 1:50 left in the game. McCarron would not blame his teammates for losing their cool.
“I’m not here to throw shade at anybody,” he said. “We win together and we lose together. It’s as simple as that. It doesn’t matter if somebody lost their poise, somebody didn’t, what happened. We win together, we lose together.We need to have each other’s back during this process.”
Steelers backup quarterback Landry Jones threw an interception to Burfict on Pittsburgh’s next possession, giving the Bengals a chance to run the clock down and force the Steelers to use their three timeouts. But Hill fumbled on the first play and Ross Cockrell recovered for the Steelers at the 9, setting up Roethlisberger’s dramatic return.
“This one’s on me,” Hill said. “I take the full blame for it.”
It was mind-boggling to think the Steelers would need a game-winning drive just minutes earlier. They were in total control of the game at 15-0, as McCarron struggled to get the Bengals’ offense moving in a driving rain storm.
The game was a wacky one with 18 penalties, seven personal fouls. The two teams were on the verge of brawls several times. There was a penalty on Steelers assistant Mike Munchak for pulling Bengals safety Reggie Nelson’s hair when Nelson followed a play onto the Pittsburgh sideline. Steelers defensive back William Gay was penalized for celebrating a defensive touchdown that was called off after a review.
Pittsburgh went up 15-0 with 5:02 left in the third quarter on an acrobatic catch by receiver Martavis Bryant. Roethlisberger was knocked out of the game on the final play of the third quarter on a Burfict sack. He was carted off the field to cheers from the Paul Brown Stadium crowd, some of whom threw things at him.
The Bengals cut the score to 15-7 on a Hill 1-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. With Jones at quarterback, the Steelers stalled. Mike Nugent’s 36-yard field goal for the Bengals made it 15-10 with 5:17 left.
Cincinnati got the ball back with 3:28 left and McCarron marched the Bengals down the field, converting a fourth down and then finding Green on third-and-7 for the 25-yard touchdown and a 16-15 lead with 1:50 to play. Burfict intercepted Jones on the Steelers’ first play of their next drive, but Hill gave it right back.
Roethlisberger completed five passes to move the ball to the Bengals’ 47. He then threw high to Brown, who was hit in the head by Burfict, drawing the unnecessary roughness penalty, which was followed by Jones’ unsportsmanlike conduct call to move the ball to the 17 and set up the game-winner for Boswell.
“It’s disappointing,” Lewis said. “Our guys fought their tails off all year, fought their tail off today, got back and went ahead, and then we destructed on ourselves.”
