Steelers vs. Bengals: What they're saying in Cincinnati after Steelers' loss

One headline that roared Friday morning in the Cincinnati Enquirer summarized most of what those in Ohio’s third-largest city were saying after the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers the night before at Paycor Stadium: How Joe Flacco saved the Bengals’ season in win over Steelers.

“See, Cincinnati Bengals can outscore an opponent,” columnist Jason Williams wrote in an article dubbed “In ‘Joe 2.0’ the Bengals trust.’ “Joe Flacco-to-Ja’Marr Chase put a stop to a miserable four-game losing streak and has suddenly injected a little hope back into the Bengals’ season.”

The Bengals improved to 3-4 with the 33-31 win on primetime TV Thursday and own second place in the AFC North. The Steelers, at 4-2, still hold the conference’s top spot.

Chase scored myriad accolades about 290 miles west of Downtown Pittsburgh on the Ohio River: he set a new record, at 16 catches, for single-game receptions by a Bengals player.

And how could Bengals not rave about Evan McPherson, whose 36-yard field goal with seven seconds left in the game stunted the Steelers’ three-game winning streak?

But Flacco, who was starting (again) less than 10 days after he was acquired in a deal that left Steelers coach Mike Tomlin fuming, owned the Cincinnati narrative.

”Uncle Flacco reminding the Bengals how good he was — he could throw it over them mountains!” Alexander Harbin, a.k.a. “_harbz_” captioned a meme on Instagram. (And, yes, the meme title “Uncle Flacco still got it” was accompanied by an obligatory #whodey.)

”Give Joe Flacco a 10-year extension!!” smokejustis wrote in ALL CAPS from Covington, Ky., which sits on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, about 1.5 miles from Downtown Cincy.

The bloggers at Cincy Jungle leaned heavy into Flacco’s stats over his two starts as a Bengal in just five days: 550+ passing yards, five passing TDs, no interceptions and a 65% completion rate.

“To come to a new team, a division rival at that, and produce these numbers in two games, not to mention these two games four days apart, is extremely impressive,” Alex Frank wrote on the website.

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The national media agreed.

“Joe Flacco is the 1st QB in NFL history with 300 pass yds, 3 pass TD and 0 INT in a game for FOUR different teams (Ravens, Jets, Colts, Bengals),” CBS sports writer Doug Claweson posted to X around midnight.

“I think we overcomplicate football sometimes,” the podcast Bills Chat added on X. “Coaches sleep in their offices coming up with game plans, meanwhile Joe Flacco, who has been in Cincinnati for 5 minutes, just decides to chuck it up to Higgins or Chase every play and is having success.”

Others, of course, played with the age thing: Flacco and Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers are 40 and 41, respectively. (For perspective: Flacco was honing his skills as a high school QB in New Jersey in 2000, the year Chase, the wide receiver who put up marquee numbers Thursday, was born.)

”The first time Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco played each other (December 7, 2009) — Instagram didn’t exist -You couldn’t take an Uber,” BetMGM posted to X.

For the record, BetMGM Tweeted about the 40ish-year-old Rogers and Flacco matchup not once or twice but more than a dozen times.

“New Joe in town,” another BetMGM read.

But mostly, sports writers and fans in Cincinnati just reveled in the post-win glow.

“3 things Joe Flacco knows, after one week in Cincinnati: 1. The playbook 2. Where his hotel is 3. Who to throw the ball to (1 & 5),” WCPO TV sports anchor Calbe Noe penned on Facebook.

“Joe Flacco just gets it,”added Noe’s WCPO sports colleague Marshall Kramsky.

And some — like those assembled on the sports page Cincinnati Bengals A-Z — just waxed poetic.

“Joe Flacco just became a #Bengals LEGEND,” they wrote.

The Steelers now follow their gut-wrenching loss with a 10-day break. The team returns to Acrisure Stadium Oct. 16 to battle the Green Bay Packers.