Three first half turnovers lead to third straight loss

CINCINNATI -- Forget being physical enough, as Mike Tomlin suggested his team wasn't in a 26-15 loss to the Bills last week.

Now, the Steelers apparently can't hold onto the football, either.

The Steelers lost three turnovers in the first half, leading directly to 17 points by the Bengals, as Cincinnati stunned Pittsburgh, 27-17, as a two-touchdown underdog here at Paul Brown Stadium.

The loss was the third straight for the Steelers, now 11-3, and has them questioning where they go from here.

"Shoot, we better not be confident after a performance like that," Tomlin said when asked about his team's confidence after a third consecutive loss. "I’m not concerned about our confidence. We have work to do."

And ever.

Ben Roethlisberger, so often a reason a driving force when the Steelers beat the Bengals, was a big reason they were incapable of winning this one.

Roethlisberger had one of the worst halves of his career, completing just 6 of his first 15 passes for seven yards and an interception in the first two quarters. He also lost a fumble and led JuJu Smith-Schuster into a short catch that resulted in the wide receiver being hit hard by Bengals safety Vonn Bell and fumbling.

The team's slow starts -- highlighted by Roethlisberger's 76.2 passer rating, with just two first-quarter touchdowns this season entering this game -- have not been new. But to turn the ball over three times before the half and miss throw after throw, well, that was more surprising.

"I would say that I’m not consistent enough, which affects the offense because the ball is in my hand every play," Roethlisberger conceded.

But it's one thing to miss on throws. It's another to fumble a snap, something that happened in this game. It's even worse to do it deep in your own territory, which is exactly what happened after the Steelers had forced the Bengals to punt on three-and-outs on their first two possessions.

It was that kind of game.

The fumble was recovered at the Pittsburgh 20, and while it only led to a 34-yard Austin Seibert field goal and a 3-0 lead for the Bengals (3-10-1), it seemed to give Cincinnati a boost of confidence.

Playing without quarterback Joe Burrow, the Bengals started second-year pro Ryan Finley. And they were clearly trying to keep the young quarterback from having to do too much throwing of the ball.

In fact, he attempted just 13 passes, completing seven for 89 yards while being sacked twice.

"We need to make more plays early and not be in catch-up mode," said Cam Heyward. "Our offense has got to start faster."

That criticism from a team captain about something that is happening not on his unit is rare. But it's true. And it was especially so in this game.

The Steelers had another three-and-out on their next series, but the defense stood up again, holding the Bengals to a 55-yard missed field goal. But even getting the ball at their own 45 didn't spark the offense. Quite the contrary.

Roethlisberger threw a pass on a short crossing route to Smith-Schuster, who pulled it in, took a step and was separated from the ball by Bell, who had been critical of the wide receiver's dancing on the opposing team's logo and posting it on social media as part of his pre-game ritual.

Not only did the players celebrate the hit. So did the Bengals' social media.

Smith-Schuster caught just three passes for 15 yards.

The Bengals recovered the loose ball -- initially ruled an incompletion -- at the Pittsburgh 38, and seven plays later, Giovanni Bernard, starting in place of injured Joe Mixon, scooted into the end zone from 4 yards out to give the Bengals a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.

The Steelers finally got a first down on their next possession -- their sixth of the game -- but that went for naught, as well, as on third-and-14 from the Cincinnati 48, Roethlisberger threw what might have been his worst pass of the half -- there were a number of others in contention -- throwing the ball directly to cornerback Mackensie Alexander, who had dropped into a short zone.

Alexander returned the ball to the Pittsburgh 41, and Chuks Okorafor was penalized 15 yards for a late hit out of bounds on him that put the ball at the 26. Three plays later, Bernard caught a short wheel route from Finley over the middle and got into the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown pass that made it 17-0.

"I'm not disappointed, I'm pissed off," said Heyward, noting the Steelers needed to hold the Bengals to field goals in those situations. "We're not feeling sorry for ourselves. We've got to find a way to get the job done. We're two weeks out (from the playoffs)."

Roethlisberger was better in the second half. He hit Diontae Johnson for a 23-yard touchdown pass on the Steelers' opening possession of the second half to cut the Bengals' lead to 17-7. Then, on the Steelers' next possession -- after the defense forced its second three-and-out to start the half -- he directed a 67-yard drive helped along by runs of 29 and 13 yards by Benny Snell, who gained 84 yards on 18 carries subbing for injured James Conner.

But that drive stalled out Cincinnati 7 and forced a 25-yard Chris Boswell field goal that made it 17-10.

Still holding onto the lead, the Bengals could stick with their running game. And while the Steelers largely bottled up the Bengals' running backs -- holding them to 105 yards on 31 carries, a 3.4 yards per carry average -- Finley was another matter.

With the Steelers keying on stopping Bernard, who finished with 85 yards on 25 carries, Finley started calling his own number, especially after taking a big shot from Marcus Allen and Heyward on a short throw to A.J. Green late in the third quarter.

That completion, a 10-yard gain, was Finley's last throw of the game and moved the Bengals out to the Pittsburgh 42. Later on the same drive, he converted a third-and-5 with a designed run for eight yards.

Then, he broke the Steelers' back, faking a handoff and keeping the ball, running right past linebacker Alex Highsmith, who went with the back down the line of scrimmage, and going untouched for a 23-yard touchdown that put the Bengals ahead 24-10 with 11:26 remaining in the game.

"We're storming back in the third quarter, but I felt like we let them off the hook as a defense," Heyward said of that drive.

Finley finished with 10 carries for 47 yards, as the Bengals ran for 152 yards.

"I thought the quarterback-designed runs were significant," Tomlin said. "The quarterback draw, I think on third-and-5 when they went empty, was a big play for them. They had a nice plan, particularly in regards to the quarterback runs. I think that (Finley) had 50 yards and a touchdown. You have to give him credit for that."

Roethlisberger, who finished 20 of 38 for 170 yards, directed another touchdown drive, this one capped off by a 1-yard run by Snell, but it took over five minutes to complete.

The Steelers got the ball back from the Bengals with 2:17 remaining in the game down a touchdown, but four-straight incompletions turned the ball over on downs deep in their own territory, leading to another Seibert field goal.

"(It was) just not good enough for us. The score speaks for itself," Tomlin said. "We turned the ball over in the early portions of the game. You can’t do that versus anybody. We gave them a short field three times in the first half or so. It was an uphill battle the rest of the way because of that. They were able to hide the ball a little bit because of those circumstances."

And the Steelers have nowhere to hide from their three-game losing streak.

"I'm a firm believer that things don't change just because you believe in them," said Heyward. "We've got to get back to work. I know we've got some guys hurt, but we can't use that as an excuse. We've got to go to work and fix this. And that starts with hard work."