Maybe it had something to do with the game being played on Dec. 23, which is a magical date in franchise history. Maybe it had something to do with the spirit of the holiday season, what with all of this unfolding some 24 hours before Santa was due to make his rounds. Or maybe it was simply a case of the Steelers coming together to play a complete game when they absolutely had to have one.
The Steelers weren't perfect during their 34-11 victory over the Bengals at Acrisure Stadium that snapped a three-game losing streak and made them 8-7 with two weeks remaining in this regular season, but in many of the ways in which games are won and lost weekly in the NFL they were what they needed to be. And they were what they needed to be right off the bat.
Some 48 hours before kickoff, Coach Mike Tomlin had explained what he needed from Mason Rudolph, who was making his first regular season NFL start since Nov. 14, 2021. "We need him to be aggressive. He doesn't need to live in fear or play that way. Certainly, we've got to be prudent in terms of protection of the ball, but there's a balance there. We spent some time talking about it, but I think it's in his natural wheelhouse. He's a confident and aggressive guy by nature. Whenever called upon he's always been aggressive in terms of throwing the ball vertically. That's an asset, and that's one of the reasons why I'm comfortable calling on him and going with him today."
The Steelers won the coin toss and decided to put their defense on the field first by choosing to defer. And it's important to understand this particular version of their defense was a collection of available parts. Instead of some combination of Minkah Fitzpatrick, Damontae Kazee, and Keanu Neal lining up at safety, it was reassigned cornerback Patrick Peterson and Eric Rowe, who didn't step foot on the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex property until Nov. 20. Then once inside linebacker Elandon Roberts was knocked out of the game by an injured pectoral with 10:35 remaining in the first half, Mykal Walker, who first joined the Steelers on Oct. 30, became the senior member of the unit, unless you'd care to assign that status to 2022 starter Myles Jack, but it's also true he had retired and was sitting on his couch in mid-November.
Anyway, that defense allowed the Bengals an opening-possession first down but nothing more, and the Steelers offense took the field for the first time with the ball placed at the 8-yard line following a 45-yard punt and no return.
The Steelers' seventh win of this season had come against these same Bengals back on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and that one had been achieved because the running of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren allowed Pittsburgh to finish with 27 more offensive plays, a 47 percent conversion rate on third down, and a 14-minute edge in time of possession. That seemed to be a solid strategy in this rematch because the Bengals defense, ranked 28th in the NFL against the run, allowed Vikings backup Ty Chandler to rush for 132 yards, with a 5.7 average and a touchdown just last week. Then again, there was that whole "We need him to be aggressive" from Tomlin about what he wanted from Rudolph.
Harris powered off right tackle for 6 yards on the first snap, and then Rudolph came back on second-and-4 from the 14-yard line with a pass that was accurate and on-time to George Pickens, who took the ball in stride, hit a vertical seam in the Bengals secondary and ran away from Germaine Pratt and DJ Turner for an 86-yard touchdown. Two plays, 92 yards, 7 points, all in 52 seconds, and the Steelers had the full attention of the 66,646 in the building, and in a good way.
And unlike their recent performances, this snippet of complementary play was not to be a one-time thing.
While the reconfigured defense bent some, it rose up when the Bengals threatened the scoreboard. A third-and-9 from the 16-yard line became the Steelers' first of three takeaways when Cam Heyward flushed Jake Browning to his right with T.J. Watt closing fast, and the ill-advised throw was intercepted by Peterson in the end zone. The offense went right back to that formula of mixing vertical running with textbook execution of the passing game by Rudolph. Twelve yards to Allen Robinson; 18-yard catch-and-run by Warren; another 14 yards to Robinson. Harris' 13-yard run made it first-and-goal at the 6-yard line, and then two plays later Calvin Austin III scored the team's second touchdown on a jet-sweep enabled by a pancake block on Pratt by Warren.
With a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, the Steelers defense had the luxury of playing against a Bengals offense needing to take some chances to get back into the game. A T.J. Watt sack on third down created a three-and-out; the second takeaway came when Highsmith pressured Browning on a throw for Tyler Boyd that was intercepted by Rowe and returned to the Cincinnati 14-yard line. One play after Rudolph used his legs to get 7 yards to convert a third-and-6, Harris blasted over from the 3-yard line.
It was 21-0 midway through the second quarter; Rudolph had a perfect passer rating of 158.3; and they were plus-2 in turnover ratio. The rock was rolling down the hill, and the Steelers were riding it instead of being run over by it.
When Cincinnati's offense started stringing chunk plays on the possession following Harris' touchdown, the Steelers defense dropped anchor at its 14-yard line. An incomplete fourth-down pass to Tee Higgins in the end zone protected the shutout and turned the ball over to Rudolph and the offense at the 5-yard line with 2:14 left in the first half. Since the Bengals were down to one timeout, it seemed to be time to ram Harris at the Bengals defense a few times and head to the locker room for halftime.
"We need him to be aggressive. He doesn't need to live in fear or play that way." Those words turned out to be more than lip service. The Steelers ran 11 plays in that 134-second block of time, 10 of them were passes, and the offense executed. The protection was solid, Rudolph converted a third-and-10 with an accurate throw after Diontae Johnson won his matchup; and then Pickens added to his highlight reel with an acrobatic play along the sideline for 44 yards on third-and-15. Boswell banged a 50-yard field goal as time expired, and the Steelers had a 24-0 halftime lead.
Actual flying reindeer seemed more likely than 30 minutes of that caliber of football, but the Steelers were executing the plan and playing with confidence, which in the NFL gives you a chance to win any game on your schedule.
"We talked about scared money not making money all week," said Tomlin about the tone he wanted to set. "That was the mentality as we went into the week."
That was the mentality even when the offense took possession at its 5-yard line with 2:14 left in the first half?
"Yeah, we had a certain anticipation what they might do (on defense)," said Tomlin. "When you're comfortable with that, then you play aggressively. Not anything earth-shattering. It's the intimacy in divisional play. I am sure they know us as well."
The Steelers never took their foot off the gas, either. When Browning hooked up with Higgins on an 80-yard catch-and-run through the middle of the Steelers defense and then with Mixon for the 2-point conversion, the margin was cut to 24-8 with 9:38 left in the third quarter.
Three plays into the ensuing possession, the Steelers looked at a third-and-1 from their 34-yard line and had Rudolph attack deep down the left sideline for Pickens, who made a third big-time NFL play for a 66-yard touchdown. Ninety-three seconds after it became 24-8, it was 31-8.
There were many heroes wearing black-and-gold on Dec. 23, but it's fair to label Rudolph's performance as the one that allowed it all to happen. That's because his play set a tone early, and then each time the Bengals flashed as if to make a run, Rudolph played turnover-free football to allow the Steelers offense to do enough to maintain the cushion while consuming hunks of the game clock.
With his family in the stands after having traveled to Pittsburgh for the game, and with Cam Heyward exercising his prerogative to award him a game ball after the victory, it had the makings of a special night for Rudolph. Maybe his best Christmas ever?
"I don't know," said Rudolph. "I got a treehouse when I was 12. This is definitely up there, though."
