When the Cincinnati Bengals welcome in the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend, they’ll have a chance to do something they haven’t done in a long time — Sweep the Steelers.
For years, the Steelers have been the better team and completely wrecked Cincinnati whenever the two have met up for their two annual games. Pittsburgh is currently on a two-game losing streak to the Bengals, with one of those games coming near the end of the 2020 season when Cincy didn’t have Joe Burrow under center due to injury.
The other game was in Week 3 of this season with the stripes winning 24-10. With that win, Cincinnati now has a chance to sweep the Steelers for the first time since… 2009!
The Cincinnati Bengals haven’t swept the Steelers since 2009.
That’s right — It’s been 12 years since the last time Cincinnati was able to pull off a two-game sweep over their hated division rivals. A lot has changed since 2009 not just with the Bengals but in the world.
Cincinnati, however, still had Carson Palmer at the helm. Ben Roethlisberger was in his prime years with the Steelers, as they were coming off their second Super Bowl win under Big Ben. They’d go to the Super Bowl again a few years later, only to lose to the Packers. They haven’t been back since.
Both of those games in 2009 were close with the Bengals winning the first meeting 23-20 and winning the second one by a score of 18-12.
The rivalry has been mostly one-sided since then with Cincinnati winning just five games and two of those happened in a calendar year. When I say the Steelers have dominated the Bengals, I truly mean it. It hasn’t felt like much of a rivalry considering how much the Steelers have owned Cincy during this time.
A sweep here wouldn’t just be great for bragging rights but it’d keep the Bengals in the playoff hunt and the AFC North title sweepstakes, which is currently anyone’s game. We all hate the Steelers and want to see the Bengals beat them, but for this franchise, a sweep over the black and yellow is a looooong time coming.
The Bengals are 4-point favorites in this game, per WynnBET. No one would be surprised to see either team come out victorious because both teams are still fighting hard for not just a playoff spot but the division title as well.