'Guys Need to Have Some Tough Skin' - Bengals Facing Harsh Reality Following Loss to Steelers

The Bengals are 4-8 after the loss.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens (14) breaks through the defense for a touchdown reception in the first quarter of the NFL Week 13 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The ping pong tables didn’t work in Cincinnati. Following the bye, the Bengals' defense looked as if it was still lost on a never-ending path through struggle. 

Joe Burrow led the offense to four successful trips to the red zone, throwing three touchdowns and handing the ball off to Chase Brown for a fourth. 

Cam Taylor-Britt made a massive 3rd down play on the first drive of the game, picking off Russell Wilson and returning it for a touchdown to give Cincinnati a 7-0 lead.

The expectations and excitement in the stadium were high at that point in the game, but that sense of joy from Bengals fans was slowly ripped from their hands with each pass Wilson threw. He completed 29-of-38 passes for 414 yards and three touchdowns. 

“He’s definitely finding his rhythm,” Akeem Davis-Gaither said. “He knows where he wants to go with the ball and he’s not going to force errors. If his first read or second read is not there, he’s giving the ball to the running back shakedown and we just needed to eliminate those shakedowns and not let those be 17 yards a pop."

Cincinnati lost its 4th game after scoring 33 or more points this season a situation the rest of the National Football League has only seen happen once with all 31 teams combined. 

“We’re not putting this on the coaches,” Joseph Ossai said after the loss. “We as players figured it out too late. We have to figure it out earlier.”

Logan Wilson was inactive with a knew injury and Davis-Gaither got the start in his place. He tied Germaine Pratt with 13 total tackles on the day and began to give “look at the film” style answers when BengalsTalk.com first started asking about the visible problems on defense. 

After going a bit deeper down that road, Davis-Gaither began to explain a glaring problem within this defense, they’re not playing together. 

“The biggest thing is us playing like a unit and not so much of, ‘oh, I’m going to let this guy make the play,’” Davis-Gaither said. “This all 11 hats to the ball, this playing together, that’s what I see from other teams. They play more together and I feel like we can do a better job of that.”

Why haven’t they managed to accomplish the task of playing with cohesion by the time Week 13 hit?

Davis-Gaither faced that question with refreshing honesty. 

“Tough conversations, and being honest with guys,” Davis-Gaither said. “It’s football. This is a man’s game so I feel like guys need to have some tough skin and be honest with each other and if you’re lacking in this somebody needs to tell that person so we can fix it. Not this sweeping it under the rug and let it be a problem these last five weeks.”

The lack of tough conversations and confrontation among this group led to an implosion at home, giving up 520 total yards of offense to the Steelers. A team that had once spoken about a Super Bowl run is now facing the 4-8 music. A tune that aligns closer to nails on a chalkboard over a ballot from the Trans Siberian Orchestra that they were expecting to hear in December this season. 

Ossai showed flashes of promise on Sunday. The fourth-year player will be talked about for his play on special teams as he blocked Chris Boswell’s field goal attempt. 

He had one of his better games of the 2024 season, finishing with three tackles (one for loss), two quarterback hits and one sack.

“Our offense is playing way too good to be giving up that many points,” Ossai said. 

He had this to say when asked if he felt like the defense felt added pressure knowing that they were watching an NFL-leading offense on the other side of the ball. 

“Yes, and no. It’s no secret that the offense is playing at the level they are,” Ossai said. “We aren’t in a locker room that is divided. They know they’re clicking and they’re going to keep trying to get us out of situations like that. We have to step up and make those adjustments.”

Cincinnati’s 2024 season was already one life support before Pittsburgh (9-3) came to town and the Steelers pulled the plug. 

“I don’t think we are completely out of it, but we are going to need a lot of help,” Ossai said. “This is a spot where we didn’t want to be. We wanted to put things in our hands and go out and win all six.”

The best the Bengals can hope for is a 9-win season, but that can only come with 5-straight wins to finish the year. Those expectations might be too high for a team that owns a 4-8 record.

“It most definitely sucks, but it's part of the game,” Davis-Gaither said. “We can’t look at what expectations were. We have to come back fighting and keep fighting.”

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