Injured QB Dalton ruled out by Bengals for wild card game

When he hasn’t turned the ball over in the air the Steelers blew out the San Francisco 49ers (43-8) and theIndianapolis Colts (45-10), which just so happened to be two of his best performances of the season.

A decade later, the AFC North champion Bengals have a shot at postseason payback.

When it comes to the performance of this high-powered Steelers offense, it rests exclusively on Roethlisberger’s shoulders. They were well on their way to breaking a few fists on each other’s helmets during the pregame warm ups. Cincinnati is the third seed and Pittsburgh the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs. Burfict walked up to the Steelers’ Vince Williams and began taunting him. Steelers have 12 players with an interception and 16 with a sack. It became a statement game, but it was Pittsburgh who were making a statement about their desires to be a contending team.

The Bengals will prevail 23 to 20. If the run game is completely unsuccessful, the Bengals’ pass rush could rain on Pittsburgh’s passing parade, and things could get ugly fast.

Their big-play offense has produced 21 pass plays of 40-plus yards – eight of those to Antonio Brown, five each to Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton.

The Bengals meanwhile are still grappling with the absence of quarterback Andy Dalton, who broke a thumb against the Steelers last month and has not played since. Between Weeks 3-7, Bell managed to gain at least 127 yards from scrimmage in four out of the five games.

It’s going to be tough to win this game considering Andy Dalton is out and A.J. McCarron will be getting his first career playoff start.

Today is the 10-year anniversary of the first and only other playoff meeting between the Bengals and Steelers, the one defined by Pittsburgh defensive end Kim von Oelhoffen’s low hit that left Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer with a torn ACL on his snap of the game. Kansas City wins with a dominant performance, 27-14. It could turn into a field day for receiver AJ Green and Tyler Eifert. The Bengals can answer so many questions on Saturday night but none of that matters if they don’t get the W.

Will this finally be a good night for an exorcism in Cincinnati?

Defensively the Bengals will get a few key stops. The Texans will be looking for big plays by the defense and special teams for overall team success.

Steelers offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert tweeted after that game: “All I want for Christmas is the Bengals”. According to SB Nation, the Bengals are a 2.5 home underdog. Take the points. There’s no need to be going for two on every touchdown, just get the easy points and trust that the defense will have one of their good games.

Even with the stakes raised for this game, neither team expects that chippiness to carry over. It is the defense that must play at their best.

Shields missed the final three regular-season games due to the injury and the team was hoping he would be back for its first playoff game. Keep to this trend and the Bengals walk away with this game, easy. Pittsburgh Steelers running backs Fitzgerald Toussaint (33) and Jordan Todman (30) run a drill during an NFL football practice, in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016.

For the Bengals, this is a chance to extend the season of one of the most talented groups in franchise history, one that tied a franchise-best mark with a 12-4 regular season finish. The victor could have a road paved directly to the Super Bowl.