five bengals key player will missed the upcoming match due to…

The Cincinnati Bengals played a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday but it appears that the majority of the Bengals didn’t come to play. Right off the bat, the Steelers scored on a 92-yard touchdown and even as early as it was, it felt like maybe this wasn’t going to be Cincinnati’s night.

It was 24-0 in favor of the Steelers at half time and again, it just didn’t feel like this was the Bengals’ game to win. They desperately needed to win this one too, as now their playoff odds are sitting at 16%. They’ll have to win out to even have a chance at punching their ticket to the playoffs but with an 0-5 division record, it’s going to be tough for them to be a true playoff contender.

It felt like the Bengals maybe forgot there was a game because this was just a laughably bad performance. These five Bengals, however, might have forgotten to even show up to the game.Browning ultimately came crashing down to Earth after three incredible starts. His final stats don’t appear to be horrible, but that’s because he was forced to air it out more because his side was down 24-0 at the half. Browning was also responsible for the Steelers getting extra chances to score, as he threw three interceptions and Pittsburgh scored two touchdowns and a field goal as a result of those mistakes.
Browning had only thrown three interceptions in his previous four games, but matching that total in one game was troubling. That being said, he is a backup quarterback, so we expected him to calm down at some point, which happened to be this week.

Awuzie hasn’t had the season Bengals supporters expected from him after a stellar first year and a half in Cincinnati. To his credit, he sustained an ACL injury midway through last season and has been working hard to recover.

Regardless, Awuzie had a rough night in Pittsburgh. The Bengals had finally scored in the second half, but as soon as the Steelers received the ball back, George Pickens beat Awuzie down the field for a 66-yard touchdown, effectively ending any hope of a comeback.

This season, the offensive line has been up and down, performing well against the Colts but then severely struggling over the last two weeks. The Bengals’ offensive line enabled Browning to be taken to the ground three times and hit eight times in their game against the Steelers.

This may be a cop-out given that I promised five Bengals in this post, but can you blame me for include the entire defense? Mason Rudolph torched the secondary all night, throwing for 290 yards and two touchdowns, while George Pickens had over 200 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Pickens had a 48.8 yard per reception average.

The run defense did not fare any better. They’ve been poor all season, so giving up over 100 yards on the ground wasn’t shocking, but it was still depressing.