Coming off their bye week, the Bengals will travel to Pittsburgh for their second and final matchup against the Steelers this season. The last time these two teams met, Joe Burrow had five turnovers and Mitch Trubisky was the starting quarterback for the Steelers.  

Since then, Burrow has only had three turnovers and rookie Kenny Pickett took the starting job in Pittsburgh. The Bengals are going to come out fighting, especially after getting a week of rest. Joe Mixon had the game of his career two weeks ago, and is hoping to continue to find success in his run game that he struggled with early on in the season. 

The Bengals are now 5-4 going into the back-nine of the season, just as they were last year. They have some tough matchups coming up, playing the Chiefs, Titans, Bills, and Ravens, so this week against Pittsburgh is a must-win game. The Bengals want to have a chance at the playoffs and keep pace with the Ravens for a possible AFC North title. They’re sitting at 0-3 against the division, which does not help their chances of winning a tiebreaker at the end of the season if needed. 

The good news is that Bengals’ DT DJ Reader might be back to play this weekend. He played a big role in the success of the Bengals defense before tearing his MCL earlier this season. Cornerback Mike Hilton says he’s ready to play this weekend after fracturing his pinky in Week 8. This is great news for the Bengals as their top cornerback, Chidobe Awuzie, is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. 

The bad news is that Ja’Marr Chase still won’t be playing as he’s out with a hip injury. The pass game has struggled with him out, but they were finding some success against the Panthers two weeks ago. They have great receivers other than Chase, including Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd, as well as tight end Hayden Hurst, and if they can figure out how to get open and make plays, this game is wrapped. 

This past weekend, the Steelers got TJ Watt back from a pec injury that put him on the injured reserve list. He helped propel his team to a 20-10 victory over the Saints, and he is not going to let up. In Week 1 against Burrow, Watt had a sack and two pass deflections. He is a menace on the field, and Burrow needs to be ready for him. Minkah Fitzpatrick, who intercepted Burrow for a touchdown in Week 1, will not be playing as he is out after having an appendectomy. 

Quarterback Kenny Pickett should be feeling good after getting his first win in a few weeks. The longer he settles into the league, the better he should start playing, but he will need help from the rest of his offense. 

This game is the Bengals to lose given all the talent they have on both sides of the ball, but given the issues they’ve had against division rivals so far this year, they have to come out firing on all cylinders if they want to come away with a win.