The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals hook up on a short week. The division foes will meet in Cincy Thursday night for their first matchup of the 2025 season. Here’s everything you need to know about the game!
What: Pittsburgh Steelers 4-1 at Cincinnati Bengals 2-4
Where: Paycor Stadium Cincinnati, OH
When: Thursday October 16th 815pmET
Weather: 56 degrees and clear at kickoff. Winds light to 3 mph
Surface: FieldTurf
Wagering Information: Steelers -5.5 O/U 42.5
Last Week: The Bengals and New QB Joe Flacco lost 27-18 in Green Bay while the Steelers defeated the Browns in Pittsburgh 23-9.
TV: Amazon Prime Al Michaels (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analysis), Kaylee Hartung (field reporter)
TV Coverage in Your Area (courtesy 506sports.com): National TV Audience
Radio: Steelers Audio Network Rob King (play-by-play), Max Starks (analysis), Missi Matthews (field reporter)
Westwood One Radio: John Sadak (play-by-play), Ross Tucker (analysis)
Head Official: Clay Martin. The retired high school administrator and basketball coach is in his 11th season as a head official. He most recently called a Steelers’ game in November of 2024. That was the Steelers’ 18-16 win over the Ravens. There were 19 penalties in that contest. Through six weeks, Martin’s crew has called 96 penalties with 84 having been accepted. His crew is very balanced throwing one more flag on the home team than the away team.
Game Status (courtesy steelers.com) PIT:No. 19 WR Calvin Austin III (Shoulder) – Out, No. 25 S DeShon Elliott (NIR – Resting Vet/Personal) – Questionable, No. 28 S Miles Killebrew (Knee) – Out, * No. 50 LB Malik Harrison (Knee) – Questionable CIN: No. 88 TE Mike Gesicki (Pectoral) – Out, No. 91 DE Trey Hendrickson (Hip) – Questionable, No. 87 TE Tanner Hudson (Concussion) – Out
No. 15 WR Charlie Jones (Ribs) – Questionable, No. 62 G Lucas Patrick (Calf) – Limited
Injury Notes: The asterisk with Harrison means that he is still on the IR/Designated to Return List… From what I’m told, we should expect Killabrew to go on IR soon… Mike Gesicki went on the CIN IR Wednesday… It sounds like Hendrickson will be a game time decision. He left last week’s game in Green Bay.
2025 NFL Ranks:
Total Offense: PIT 29th, CIN 31st
Passing Offense: PIT 25th, CIN 30th
Rushing Offense: PIT 29th, CIN 31st
Total Defense: PIT 25th, CIN 31st
Passing Defense: PIT 27th, CIN 31st
Rushing Defense: PIT 16th, CIN 28th
AFC North Standings:
Pittsburgh 4-1
Cincinnati 2-4
Baltimore 1-5
Cleveland 1-5
This Week in the AFC North: Miami at Cleveland 1pmET, Baltimore BYE
What You Need to Know: The Steelers are 12-15 all-time on Thursday Night Football (TNF)… They are just 3-12 on the the road in TNF games… Pittsburgh has lost five of their last six TNF games… The Steelers haven’t won a road TNF game since Indianapolis in 2016… The Black and Gold are now 4-0 when they score 20 points or more this season… Since the 1970 merger, the Steelers have played the second-most primetime games in the NFL with 171 (DAL 196)… The Steelers are 13-7 in primetime games against the Bengals…
Tomlin Time: Coach Tomlin is 26-10 all-time against the Bengals… Coach T is three wins behind Dan Reeves (190) for 10th place all-time in wins… Tomlin is 74-34-1 all-time against the AFC North… Coach Tomlin leads all coaches in career wins against the Bengals with 26. Chuck Noll (22) and Bill Cowher (21) are second and third.
Cincinnati Bengals Names to Know: QB Joe Flacco, WR Ja’Marr Chase, WR Tee Higgins, DE Trey Hendrickson, RB Chase Brown,
What’s at Stake: As every week passes, the Steelers seemingly have another chance to put distance between themselves and the rest of the division. The Bengals meanwhile are hopeful that they can stay in the race long enough for Joe Burrow to return.
All-Time Series: Steelers lead 69-40 and lead all-time in Cincy 33-21
Last Meeting: Jan 2025 in Pittsburgh. Bengals 19 Steelers 17
Postseason History: Steelers lead 2-0
Steelers Regular Season Game Highs vs CIN:
PASSING: 414 yards Russell Wilson 12/01/2024
RUSHING: 185 yards Le’Veon Bell 12/07/2014
RECEIVING: 195 yards George Pickens 12/23/2023
SACKS: 4.5 Chad Brown 10/13/1996
INTERCEPTIONS: 3 Mike Wagner 10/28/1973
Check out the latest Steel City Blitz Steelers Podcast for more on the Steelers.
Three Things We Need to See for a Steelers’ Victory:
- Buck the Trends. Players largely don’t care about historical trends. Their job is to play the game not worry about who won ten years ago. That said, it’s difficult to ignore. The Steelers have struggled on Thursday Night Football and especially on the road. Despite this Bengals’ team not being anywhere near full strength, this is still an AFC North game and they will give everything they’ve got to make sure the Steelers don’t win. How do you get past such trends? You do your job and focus on the things you can control, period.
- Make the “Other” Guys Beat You. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins will see their share of targets but the actual catches have to be limited. That could force Joe Flacco to have to look for other guys like Andre Iosivas, Mike Gesicki and Noah Fant. In a perfect world, none of these guys would do anything to beat the Steelers because the pass rush was giving Joe Flacco nightmares. Either way, Teryl Austin has to get his guys in the best possible positions to limit what Chase and Higgins can do.
3. Get Up Early. While I don’t necessarily see this is a “must” I do think it could go a long way towards victory. I got the distinct feeling on Sunday that the Browns shut down in the second half a bit. With the Bengals facing a similar, ‘rest of season’ Fate, I think getting out early could bring the same result. Heavy pressure, a strong running game and taking care of the football will help bring this about.
The ‘X’ Factor: Each week I will select a player from each team who I believe will need to play above and beyond in order for his team to win.
X-Factor Steelers: Special Teams Ace. I purposely didn’t add a name here because right now, we really don’t know who Danny Smith will use to replace Miles Killabrew. Always one of the best Special Teamers in the NFL, Killabrew went down Sunday with a significant keen injury. You can crack a joke all you’d like about this “just being about Special Teams” but replacing him isn’t easy. Will they use one guy? Will they rotate through a few different players depending on the unit? Hard to say, but Killabrew is literally the quarterback of the unit. He’s knows where everyone is supposed to be and has seen just about everything. You can’t replace that overnight.
X-Factor Bengals: Noah Fant. With Mike Gesicki going on Injured Reserve earlier today, Fant becomes a really important factor for the Bengals’ offense. Last week in Pittsburgh, the Browns targeted their tight ends 17 times. Now some of that was due to the Steelers giving up throws in the middle of the field, but with so much attention being paid to the Bengals’ wide receivers, don’t be surprised if Fant becomes a big factor.
Prediction: There are two trends heading for a collision. The Steelers are brutal on Thursday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers on the other hand is 13-5 with 42 TDs to just five interceptions. In other words, something has to give here.
Steelers 20 Bengals 19
Season Prediction Record: 2-3
