The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 33-31 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night wasn’t particularly shocking. Mike Tomlin has never beaten an AFC North opponent on the road on Thursday Night Football. The Bengals were hungry, and the Steelers are old, coming off a short week. Fine. But the bigger issue at play is that it was a drastic failure of Pittsburgh’s offseason plan on the defensive side of the ball.
During his press conference Monday, Mike Tomlin talked about how “divisional intimacy” helps form the Steelers’ roster decisions. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Tuesday the Steelers had the Bengals in mind when they made their secondary additions this offseason, chief among them trading for Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay.