Cincinnati traveled to Chicago last week and were upended by the Bears, while the Steelers fell victim to a new-look Tennessee Titans squad.
Both teams sit behind the Baltimore Ravens in the division and have a variety of questions to answer.
Can Pittsburgh overcome injuries to linebacker Larry Foote and center Maurkice Pouncey? Will a running game led by Jonathan Dwyer show up?
For Cincinnati it's much simpler—can the team grow up? The national spotlight has not been kind to the young Bengals, and the team has only defeated Pittsburgh at Paul Brown stadium two times since 2000, the last coming in 2009—eight years after the first win in 2001.
The South Point sports book installed Cincinnati as a 6.5-point favorite at the start of betting, with the total 40.5. Early money was on Cincy, pushing the spread to 7, but there's been some buy back on Pittsburgh at that number, and as of Monday morning, it sat at 6.5 across Las Vegas. In terms of the total, OVER money has pushed the number up to 41.
The Steelers' Week 1 loss to Tennessee was surprising and perplexing. It's not just that the Titans were underdogs of around a touchdown; it's that the Steelers never got into gear.
Make no mistake: the Steelers sounded some familiar notes. They allowed but one play of longer than 15 yards, and they shut down the Titans' running game. If you are going to score on the Steelers, you are going to have to put a drive together; that's been one of their hallmarks, and that was the case in Week 1. The Steelers only allowed 3.6 yards per play and 16 points. The defense is just fine, thank you.
The offense? That's another story. The Steelers rushed for just 32 yards, and starting tailback Isaac Redman fumbled twice. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was sacked five times. The Steelers scored their only points on offense with less two minutes left in the game.
Steelers vs Bengals September 16, 2013
Roethlisberger's presence alone requires the Steelers' offense to be respected. The Bengals know his capabilities well. Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders and Jerricho Cotchery comprise a solid trio of targets for Pittsburgh.
In Marvin Lewis' 11 seasons as head coach, the Bengals have been favored in just two games against Pittsburgh.
In both matchups, the Steelers won outright. The most recent example was New Year's Eve 2006, when the Steelers beat Cincinnati in OT in Bill Cowher's final game as Pittsburgh's head coach. The win kept the Bengals out of the postseason. Overall, Lewis' Bengals clubs are just 6-15 SU and ATS against Pittsburgh. Also, Cincinnati is 2-4 SU and ATS on Monday Night Football since 2003.
