With the season winding down, and the division lead in the AFC North very small, the Bengals were looking to make a statement Week 15 in the Steel City.
The Steelers would get the ball first but only made it to the 50-yard line before they tried a field goal. To no one's surprise, the 67-yard attempt was no good, leaving the Bengals with nice field possession for their first drive.
The offense came out firing on all cylinders as a 34-yard pass to Mohamed Sanu was followed by a BenJarvus Green-Ellis scoring run. This gave the Bengals a 7-0 lead early.
The Steelers offense would come back out on the field, trying to tie things back up following the Bengal touchdown. But Carlos Dunlap would force a fumble and recover it, giving the ball back to Cincinnati in Pittsburgh territory.
Cincinnati didn't get a touchdown this time, but took the three points courtesy of Mike Nugent, extending their lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter.
Just when the Steeler offense thought things couldn't get any worse, Geno Atkins broke through the line and broke "Big" Ben Roethlisberger's leg, forcing him to be helped off the field by two Pittsburgh physicians.
So Mike Tomlin would turn to Bruce Gradkowski to come in and hopefully give the Steelers a spark.
The spark never happened and the Steelers were forced to punt the ball back to Cincinnati.
Unfortunately, the injuries weren't limited to Pittsburgh, as once again, Brandon Tate would go down on the punt return. If this cat has nine lives, he has used at least eight of them.
And that's how the first half would end with the Bengals maintaining a 10-0 lead over Pittsburgh.
In the second half, the Bengals were off and running as "The Law Firm" broke loose for a touchdown scamper giving Cincinnati a 17-0 lead midway though the third.
The Steelers would then get their first possession of the second half, hoping to get something going. But that's when the defensive onslaught by Cincinnati would begin. A monstrous sack by Geno Atkins would force yet another Pittsburgh punt.
This would set up another Nugent field goal which pushed Cincinnati's lead to 20-0.
With the passing game not working, Gradkowski tried to break free for a run but was stripped of the ball by free safety Reggie Nelson.
Nelson would take it all the way in for the score giving the Bengals a comfortable 27-0 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
And if you thought the defense was going to ease up, you would be dead wrong. Pittsburgh tried to catch them off guard with a Landry Jones run when he was stood up immediately by James Harrison. He knocked the ball loose and ran it to Steeler territory before he got brought down.
The Steelers had one last play to get something on the board but a Gradkowski throw to Antonio Brown was way overthrown.
And this is how the game would end with the Bengals shutting out Pittsburgh, 27-0.
Cincinnati never let the Steelers in the game thanks to an epic performance from the defense paired with a solid performance on offense. Once Roethlisberger went down, Gradkowski was never able to get anything going for Pittsburgh as he only completed 27 percent of his passes for just 26 yards.
The Baltimore Ravens were able to keep pace with the Bengals in the division however, making Cincinnati's last two games of the Tecmo Super Bowl season crucial to their playoff chances. The Bengals will return to Paul Brown Stadium next week for a date with the Minnesota Vikings before they welcome those Ravens in the regular season finale.
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