Sunday’s road trip to Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium didn’t turn out well for the Cincinnati Bengals, as they suffered a 34-12 loss to the Steelers they could ill afford.

Drew Garrison of the Cincy Jungle placed the brunt of the blame for Cincinnati’s loss on head Coach Zac Taylor: “Coming off a bye week, the Bengals looked unprepared and uninspired for most of the day. When a team comes out of a bye week looking like that, in their biggest game of the year, the blame has to land on the head coach.”

Taylor told Molly Schramm of Cincinnati station WCPO, “At times we found momentum, but it wasn’t enough of that to go out and score enough points to win the game.”

Cincinnati dropped to 3-7 for the season as Pittsburgh answered its 33-31 loss to the Bengals a month earlier and remained at the head of the AFC North, 6-4.

Postgame talk in the Bengals locker room focused on the need to improve the team’s defensive performance, according to Fox 19 reporter Charlie Goldsmith. “If you can’t tackle, no bye week adjustment and no scheme change can save you,” he wrote, adding, “Pittsburgh made some great adjustments for the rematch, and the Bengals didn’t counter well enough in the red zone and in short yardage situations in particular.”

“We’ve got to do a better job of having more gang tackles than solo tackles,” Cincinnati safety Jordan Battle told Goldsmith. “Knowing where to aim is a big thing. The main thing, especially with big guys like No. 80 (Steelers 6-foot-7 tight end Darnell Washington), is take their legs, make them stop and the second guy in can knock (the ball) out.”

It remains to be seen what price the Bengals may pay for drama that occurred between their receiver Ja’Marr Chase and Steelers defensive back Jalen Ramsey in the second half. Ramsey was ejected for throwing a punch in the altercation, but video from Cincinnati station Fox 19 appears to back up his account that Chase spit on him.

Chase has denied the accusation, but if it sticks, he could be sitting out Cincinnati’s next game, against the Patriots.

Garrison said “finishing with only three catches for 30 yards, Chase wasn’t able to make much of an impact on the game aside from baiting Jalen Ramsey into an ejection.”

Richard Skinner of Cincinnati station WKRC called it “an ugly incident in what has turned out to be an ugly season” for the Bengals.

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