All The Crazy Things That Led To Cincinnati’s Incredible Collapse Against The Steelers

If you watched the first half of the Steelers-Bengals game, you might have turned the TV off and called it a night. It was wet, it was full of punts, and the score was 6-0 thanks to two Pittsburgh field goals.

But if you stuck around for the second half, boy did the universe reward you. In order, you missed:

-Martavis Bryant pulling off a circus-like between-the-legs touchdown catch.

-Ben Roethlisberger getting sacked on his oft-injured shoulder and then fans throwing trash on him as he was carted off the field.

-A.J. McCarron and A.J. Green bringing Cincinnati back into the game thanks to some PI flags and a broken-coverage TD that left Green wide open at the goal-line with under two minutes left.

And that’s when the ridiculous stuff started.

Vontaze Burfict picked off a pass with 1:43 left – then got up and ran into the locker room. It should have sealed a playoff victory for the Bengals.

But the game was far from over as Bengals running back Jeremy Hill fumbled the ball on the ensuing possession.

And yep, you guessed it, Big Ben came back in despite a busted shoulder. As he led the Steelers down the field, attempting to get into field goal range, Burfict struck again, this time with a direct shot to Antonio Brown’s helmet on an incomplete pass that knocked him out cold.

The 15-yard penalty (plus another personal foul tacked on after the play thanks to Adam Jones) put the Steelers into field goal range (and ultimately gave them a victory).

In a game that will fit perfectly into Cincinnati playoff lore, their beloved Bengals came from behind to take the lead against their hated division rival with 1:38 left to play and somehow, someway, still managed to implode like so many Bengals teams of yore.