Steelers 27, Bengals 10: Marvin Lewis' Makes a Cry for Help

There are games you wait months for, and then there are games like Thursday night's Steelers-Bengals game.

As a Steelers' fan, this was a game that is best once it's over. Beat the Bengals by 40 points and you're slightly happy. Beat them by 17 points and you just shrug your shoulders. And if the Bengals had somehow figured out a way to win this game, it would have ruined the next month. It was one of those games where there was

Thankfully the Steelers did what they were expected to do, although there's really nothing exciting about beating 1-9-1 Bengals team by 17 points, especially when by the end of the game you had to wonder if Cincinnati would still have 11 players to put out on the field.
The Bengals came into the game missing three injured starting offensive linemen, injured starting defensive end Antwan Odom, injured starting quarterback Carson Palmer and sent-home-without-supper wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco. That would have been bad enough, but during the game the Bengals also saw defensive ends Robert Gathers, Jonathan Fanene and Frostee Rucker knocked out with injuries.

Despite all that, the Bengals actually showed a little fight. Cincinnati led 7-0 early, and trailed only 10-7 at the half. They didn't trail by more than a touchdown until the final minute of the third quarter when Gary Russell walked into the end zone to give Pittsburgh a 13-point lead.

Even that didn't end the Bengals' chances, they had to wait for head coach Marvin Lewis to do that. Cincinnati actually put together a nice drive in the fourth quarter, getting to the Steelers' 8 with a five-minute drive. But facing fourth and goal from the 8 with 6:47 to play, Lewis opted to kick a field goal instead of going for the touchdown. Until this drive, Lewis' Bengals had not gotten a first down in the second half. The chances that the Bengals were going to stop the Steelers quickly, get the ball back, drive down and score, then recover an onside kick and drive down for another score would be somewhere around 1,000,000 to one. The chances that the Bengals would score a touchdown on fourth and eight (or get a pass interference or defensive holding penalty) were a whole lot better than that.

If ever a coach has give a cry for help, this was it. You could almost imagine Lewis' hoping that this decision would help speed Mike Brown's decision to fire him and release him from the hell that is being the Bengals head coach. If that's the case, it makes perfect sense, otherwise, Lewis' decision is completely unfathomable.

The field goal was pretty close to worthless as it cut the score to 20-10. As you would expect, the Steelers drove down the field for another touchdown that cemented the win, and Lewis took one step closer to freedom.