The Pittsburgh Steelers have now lost four games in a row as they fell 19-17 to the Bengals on Saturday night. Only playing for seeding when it came to the standings, the Steelers needed to get on the right track more than anything but came up short in that department.

So without further ado, here are some of the numbers involved in the Steelers Week 18 loss to the Bengals.

+1

The Steelers made it a point of emphasis that they had lost the turnover battle and their last two games. This week, they came through on the right end of things but poor offensive play made it not be enough. The Steelers offense did not turn the ball over despite being mostly inept otherwise, but special teams gave the ball back to the Bengals once with a Calvin Austin fumble during a punt return. The Steelers managed their two takeaways from a Beanie Bishop interception from a Patrick Queen deflection late in the first half as well as their own special teams takeaway when a punt hit a Bengals player and Connor Heyward jumped on it just before going out of bounds.

91

The Steelers offense was bad on Saturday night. Whether it was execution or play-calling (or likely a combination of both), the Steelers managed to only have 91-yards of offense through the first 3 quarters of the game. Through the first 45 minutes, the Steelers only had 58 rushing yards on 20 attempts and 37 net passing yards. For the game, the Steelers finished with 193 total yards with 74 coming via the rush and 119 net passing yards.

25%

One thing where the Steelers were improved for the game was in the red zone, particularly on defense. The Bengals made it to the red zone four times and only scored one touchdown which was on the opening possession of the game. In both goal-to-go situations the Bengals faced, the Steelers dug in and held Cincinnati to a field goal. Offensively, the Steelers were perfect in the red zone but only reached it twice during the game as they were two for two.

38%

One area where the Steelers defense was much improved compared to the last several games was their third down efficiency. The Steelers held the Bengals to 5 of 13 on third downs for a 38% conversion rate. The Steelers also held them on their only fourth down play of the game where Cam Heyward had one of his three batted passes in the game. As improved as this was, the Steelers offense was even worse than the Bengals as they were 4 for 12 on third down for a 33% conversion rate and 0 for 2 on fourth down.

12

The Steelers were obviously trying to establish the run on Saturday night. Through the first 3 quarters of the game, the Steelers ran 34 plays but only had 12 passing attempts for 51 yards without subtracting yardage lost due to sacks. But this is not the only use of the number 12. The Steelers had 12 completions on 19 attempts in the fourth quarter for 97 yards, once again not subtracting yardage lost for sacks. So in one quarter of play, the Steelers completed the same number of passes they had attempted previously.

16:40

The Steelers got blown away in time of possession in this game. Once again using the mark of the end of the third quarter, the Steelers were already more than doubled up in time of possession as Cincinnati held a 16:40 advantage as they had possessed the ball 30:50 to the Steelers 14:10. The Steelers held a slight time of possession advantage in the fourth quarter of 0:40 to where the overall advantage came out to exactly 16 minutes.

240

While I usually focus on the most recent game for these numbers, this matchup was the culmination of four disastrous games. Over the course of the last four contests, the Steelers have never held a lead in any of those games. This means the Steelers have gone 240 game minutes since the last time they had an advantage on the scoreboard. To put it in another perspective, this has spanned 27 calendar days.

19

I admit I was very frustrated with the start of the game as the defense once again gave up an opening touchdown and the offense went three and out, showing nothing in that regard had changed. But after giving up an opening touchdown, the Steelers held the Bengals to only field goals for the rest of the game. Giving up 19 points, it was the fewest points the Bengals have scored over the previous eight games. The last time the Bengals scored less than 20 points was in the month of October in Week 8 when they scored 17 against the Philadelphia Eagles. In eight games in between, the Bengals were averaging 32.25 points a game. The fact the Steelers defense kept their inept offense in the game is one of the few bright spots to take from Saturday night.

3.5

The last time the Steelers played the Cincinnati Bengals, they kept the NFL’s current sack leader from wrecking the game as Trey Hendrickson only had one assisted tackle as his only statistical output. This matchup, it was not the case. Hendrickson finished the game with 3.5 sacks, 5 tackles, and a pass defensed as he led the way for the Bengals defense. Of his 3.5 sacks, 2.5 of them came in the fourth quarter.

0

For far too long, the Steelers have not been able to put another tally in the win column. Sitting at 10–3 after the second Sunday of December, the Steelers now limp into the playoffs after losing four straight games. Yes, the Steelers previous three losses were against some of the best teams the NFL has to offer, but had the Steelers taken care of business Saturday night the Bengals would have finished with a losing record. Instead, the Steelers fall to 3–3 in the AFC North for the season and can’t even hold their own destiny to the most favorable road matchup in the Wild Card round. While this is not surprising based on the Steelers level of play as of late, it’s very shocking for a team that was once 10–3 regardless of circumstance.

So there are some numbers to help put the Steelers Week 18 loss in perspective. Even though it was only a loss by two points, it means the Steelers head into the playoffs losers of four in a row, the first team to do so since the 1999 Detroit Lions.

So what numbers from Sunday’s game stand out to you? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.