PITTSBURGH — Joe Burrow will head to Cincinnati’s training facility on Sunday.He’ll lift weights.
He might watch some video.And then he’ll join the rest of his teammates and hope.It’s not much.
But it’s the only thing left for Burrow and a Bengals team that certainly looks playoff-worthy everywhere but the standings after a 19-17 victory at Pittsburgh late Saturday night kept Cincinnati’s slim postseason hopes flickering into the season’s final day.“It’s not ideal,” Burrow said after throwing for 277 yards and a touchdown.“But we put ourselves in this position.”In multiple ways.
The Bengals were floundering at 4-8 a month ago, with seven of the losses coming by eight points or less.They responded by ripping off five straight to wrap up the regular season, including a win over the reeling Steelers.For the Bengals to grab the final playoff spot in the AFC, they need Patrick Mahomes-less Kansas City to beat Denver and the New York Jets to summon the energy at the end of a chaotic season to topple Miami.Yeah, for Bengals fans it will be weird rooting for the Chiefs.
It beats having nothing to root for at all, which is certainly where Cincinnati seemed headed a month ago.“I don’t know how many guys will be playing for (Kansas City),” Burrow said with a small laugh.“Hopefully some.”While Burrow threw an interception and had his NFL-record streak of consecutive games with at least 250 yards passing and three touchdowns come to an end, he did enough to send the Steelers (10-7) reeling into the playoffs with a four-game losing streak.Pittsburgh will be the fifth seed and travel to AFC South champion Houston if the Los Angeles Chargers lose at Las Vegas.
If the Chargers win, the Steelers will be the sixth seed and visit AFC North rival Baltimore next weekend.“We’re in a single-elimination tournament now, so we better turn our attention toward playing good football and better than we have particularly in recent weeks,” Pittsburgh ...