4th-and-Inches Pass a Microcosm of Bengals’ Inability To Get Physical in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — While it’s hard to filter a 23-point loss down to a single play, there is no question the one that summarized — and finalized — the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 34-11 blowout of the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday was the fourth-and-inches incomplete pass just before halftime.

Trailing 21-0 and looking for any semblance of life, the Bengals threw an incomplete pass on third-and-inches from the Pittsburgh 5-yard line with 2:14 left in the second quarter.

The Steelers blitzed quarterback Jake Browning, whose pass for Tee Higgins in the back corner of the end zone, and Pittsburgh would add a field goal to go into halftime with a 24-point lead.

“Sometimes it’s depending on their personnel,” Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor said of the decision to throw on fourth and inches. “Sometimes they don’t match. It dictates what you do.”

Missed Pass on 4th-and-Inches Dooms Bengals in Loss to Steelers

The Bengals were getting beaten at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. They had eight rushes for 15 yards in the first half, an ironic callback to Week 12 when they had eight handoffs for 16 yards in the 16-10 loss to the Steelers at Paycor Stadium.

Cincinnati got the 5-yard line by going 70 yards in five plays. On 2nd-and-1, Jake Browning threw a screen pass to Trenton Irwin for no gain. On 3rd-and-1, Joe Mixon ran up the middle for no gain.

With the two-minute warning approaching, Taylor challenged the spot with little to lose as he was going to call timeout anyway. He lost the challenge and sent big personnel out for the fourth-and-inches play, then called them back and sent three receivers into the game.

Pittsburgh matched the personnel change, and Joey Porter Jr. blanketed Higgins in the end zone to force the incompletion.

“It was very frustrating,” Higgins said. “Jake got hit, so he couldn’t get a really good ball. Nobody’s at fault for that. If we’d have got that one, you never know; the game could’ve turned around right there.”

Browning said he couldn’t remember what his reaction was to the play call on fourth-and-inches, but he said regardless of whether it was a run or pass, he needed to throw a completion there.

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“They brought pressure, and I’ve just gotta be able to get more on the throw and get it in the back of the end zone,” he said. “I had to throw it really early because they brought (a zero blitz), and that was kind of my only throw. I need to get that to the back pylon and probably get it up earlier, too.”

It was the second empty trip into the red zone for the Bengals in their first half. Their most promising drive – their second of the game – reached the Pittsburgh 16 before Browning threw an interception on 3rd-and-8 with no Cincinnati receiver anywhere near the pass.

“I was trying to throw it out of the back of the end zone, and I just, I don’t know,” he said. “I thought I did throw it away. Then, the whole crowd went wild. I didn’t even know it was picked. So stupid.”

The Steelers answered the interception with a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to go up 14-0.

Pittsburgh converted Browning’s second interception into a four-play, 14-yard touchdown to go up 21-0, but the Bengals were moving the ball, and punching in a touchdown before halftime could have changed the momentum.

“We took a shot at the end zone. We needed points,” Bengals center Ted Karras said. “I thought we had a chance. But we didn’t convert. We had a lot of missed opportunities today. You can go down the line and say this play could’ve changed the game, but really. we missed all the big ones.”

A few plays after the fourth-and-inches incompletion, Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph hit George Pickens, whose 86-yard touchdown opened the scoring, for a 44-yard gain to set up a field goal as time – and, possibly, the Bengals’ playoff hopes – expired in the first half.

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