The Pittsburgh Steelers had hopes of making the Cincinnati Bengals one-dimensional last Thursday night. They wanted to bottle up what was the league’s worst rushing offense to allow their own pass rushers to impact the game.
That never happened. The Bengals ran for 142 yards, 57 yards more than their previous season-high. Bengals RB Chase Brown averages 3.6 yards per carry this season. That’s after a whopping 9.8 yards per carry against the Steelers. So, what the heck went wrong for the Steelers’ run defense? This was a unit that had allowed less than 100 yards rushing in back-to-back games.