Joe Flacco, Bengals knock off Steelers with last-second field goal

CINCINNATI – Now, the rest of the country knows why Mike Tomlin was so upset about the Cleveland Browns trading Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Starting for the second time in five days for his new team — and less than 10 days after he was acquired in a deal that left Tomlin fuming — Flacco threw three touchdowns passes and directed a last-minute field goal drive that ended the Steelers’ three-game winning streak.

Evan McPherson’s 36-yard field goal with seven seconds left Thursday night sent the Steelers to a 33-31 loss against the Bengals in a nationally televised prime-time matchup at Paycor Stadium.

Flacco rallied the Bengals after the Steelers erased a pair of 10-point deficits in the second half and took a 31-30 lead with 2 minutes, 21 seconds left. He moved the Bengals into field goal range, and McPherson took care of the rest by booting his fourth field goal.

Flacco completed 31 of 47 passes for 342 yards by regularly and routinely finding the Bengals’ dynamic duo of wide receivers. Ja’Marr Chase caught 16 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown, and Tee Higgins added six catches for 96 yards and a score.

The win was No. 11 for Flacco against the Steelers in his 18-year career, tying him with Ken Anderson for the most by an opposing quarterback.

“He does a great job taking what the defense gives you. He does a great job of getting the ball out of his hands,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. “You know he’s seen every coverage, so you’re not going to fool him. What you can do around him is to make it less advantageous.”

Heyward was referring to stopping the run, which the Steelers did effectively in the previous two games. That didn’t happen against the Bengals, who rushed for 142 yards — 7 more than the Steelers yielded combined in wins over Minnesota and Cleveland.

The Bengals finished the game with 470 yards, the most given up by the Steelers since October 2022 when Buffalo amassed 552.

Asked what the Bengals did well, outside linebacker T.J. Watt said, “It seemed like everything. Absolutely an unacceptable performance from us on the defensive side of the ball.”

For all of their mistakes, the Steelers had a chance to steal the win after Aaron Rodgers threw his fourth touchdown pass, a 68-yarder to Pat Freiermuth, with 2:21 left to give the Steelers their first lead since the second quarter.

Then, Flacco had completions of 15 and 18 yards to Chase, and he hit Higgins with a 28-yarder to the Steelers 7 with 1:39 left. Higgins slid rather than run into the end zone, and the Bengals wound the clock down to 11 seconds before sending McPherson onto the field.

“It’s not always going to be your night,” Watt said, “but you like to think that through all the training and practice and everything that we’ve put in, that when we need a stop the most, we should be able to get a stop, and we weren’t able to tonight.”

Added inside linebacker Patrick Queen: “It (stinks). It’s what you live for. The moment was right there. We had a pretty (crummy) game the whole game and then you’ve got a chance right there to be big for your team, but you come up short.”

Chase and Higgins did their damage against a secondary that featured two veteran cornerbacks — Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay — who were acquired with this matchup in mind. Joey Porter Jr. also struggled in coverage and was flagged twice for pass interference, a year after he was flagged six times (four accepted) against the Bengals.

“We have to go back to work,” Ramsey said. “We didn’t get the goal accomplished today. Straight up, that’s what it is. We’ll see them again, that’s the good thing about it.”

The Steelers (4-2) maintained their lead in the AFC North, but they missed a chance to widen their margin and win for the first time against a division opponent in a Thursday road game. The loss dropped them to 0-7 in such encounters under Tomlin.

The Bengals (3-4) won for the first time in their past five games and trail the Steelers by one-and-a-half games.

“Of course it’s a missed opportunity,” Heyward said. “Anytime you get a chance to get a game on the road, it’s huge.”

Rodgers threw all four of his touchdown passes to his tight ends, including two to Freiermuth, who had just two receptions over his previous three games.

Jaylen Warren rushed for 127 yards on 16 carries as the Steelers piled up a season-high 396 yards, their most since their previous visit to Paycor Stadium, a 44-38 victory.

“Our offense gave us a ton of points,” Heyward said. “As a defense, that is more than enough. We have to own it. As a D-line, that run game is a big blemish on our group right now.”

The Steelers reverted to early season form when they allowed 182 rushing yards in the opener and more than 100 the next two weeks. The Bengals, averaging an NFL-low 56 rushing yards coming into the game, were led by Chase Brown’s 108 yards on 11 carries.

The Steelers unraveled after taking a 10-0 lead, giving up 17 points to the Bengals in the second quarter and 20 unanswered overall. Two Rodgers interceptions led to 10 points.

“That set a negative trajectory,” Tomlin said, “and we were fighting uphill the rest of the way.”

It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that the Steelers caught up, overcoming 20-10 and 27-17 deficits. Rodgers sandwiched touchdown passes to Freiermuth around a 2-yard TD to Darnell Washington.

And even after McPherson pushed the Bengals back on top with seven seconds left, Rodgers uncorked a Hail Mary that traveled 70 yards in the air and was batted down at the goal line.

“We had good preparation, a good walkthrough, a good practice,” Queen said. “It’s unfortunate. I feel like we had good momentum. We practiced good. We felt good going into the game. We just have to execute better, play better.”