As kickoff approached for the Steelers Week 13 matchup against the Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Sunday afternoon, you just felt like the 2024 season was teetering on the brink of disaster.

Yes, the Steelers were 8-3 and a half-game ahead of the Ravens for first place in the AFC North Division, but it doesn’t take much for a promising campaign to slide in the wrong direction.

Coming off a bitter road loss to the Browns on Thursday Night Football 10 days earlier, it was easy to envision Pittsburgh losing a second-straight game in Ohio before it headed into the true death stretch of its 2024 schedule.

8-3 could have quickly turned into 8-4. And what about that return date against Cleveland at Acrisure Stadium on December 8? Nothing is ever a sure thing, right?

How would the Steelers respond against a 4-7 Cincinnati team that had been a bona fide Super Bowl contender the past few years with a healthy Joe Burrow leading the way? Strangely, unlike 2020 and 2023, Burrow was healthy heading into Sunday. In fact, some might say he was playing as well as or better than any quarterback in football. Why were the Bengals struggling so much?

Because their defense was horrible, of course. Having said that, did you really think Pittsburgh’s offense could fully take advantage of that unit? Maybe Russell Wilson and Co. would score more points than fans had grown accustomed to over the past few years but enough to overcome the Bengals’ juggernaut offense?

And what a way to start the game–with a pick-six by Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt. OK, maybe he did interfere with receiver George Pickens and tossed him to the ground just as Wilson threw in his direction, but the officials weren’t going to confer and change the outcome.

Spotting Cincinnati seven points before its offense even had a chance to warm up?

Yikes.

You had to like the way the offense urgently responded by driving 70 yards to tie the game on a Pickens touchdown. Unfortunately, the Bengals’ high-powered unit scored touchdowns on its next two possessions. Could Arthur Smith’s inferior charges keep up?

Yes.

Three-straight touchdown drives after Taylor Britt’s pick-six. It was a thing of beauty.

The offense kept the Steelers in the game long enough for the defense to take control of things in the second quarter by doing what it’s been best at all year: Creating turnovers. T.J. Watt, who had been relatively quiet since the bye, did the honors by stripping Burrow of the football.

The offense could only parlay that takeaway into a Chris Boswell field goal, but it felt important to have any kind of lead considering how the first quarter unfolded.

The Steelers never looked back following the Watt strip sack. The offense kept doing its thing and scored another 13 points. Meanwhile, the defense created two more takeaways–including yet another forced fumble by Nick Herbig that rookie Payton Wilson scooped up and took to the house to give the visitors a 41-24 lead early in the fourth quarter.

From there, it was just a matter of trading points for time, as Pittsburgh won by a score of 44-38.

The offense tallied an incredible 510 yards–including 410 through the air. Wilson recovered from his shaky first drive to complete 29 of 38 passes for 414 yards (minus four for two sacks) and three touchdowns to offset that interception.

The victory improved the Steelers record to 9-3. That result and Baltimore’s home loss to the Eagles give Pittsburgh a 1.5-game lead in the AFC North with five weeks to go.

Of course, clinching a playoff spot usually happens before winning a division, and Sunday’s victory over Cincinnati went a long way in doing just that.

The Steelers aren’t officially in, but they’re a sure enough thing now that they can focus their energy on running the North and securing at least one home playoff game.

I don’t know about you, but 9-3 feels a lot better today than 8-4 would have.