PITTSBURGH — Minutes after the game balls were distributed and the “Who Dey” chant was sung inside the visitors locker room at Acrisure Stadium, the standard postgame rap song was cut off and a new song put on.
They played “Renegade.”
The Styx song used as a soundtrack for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest moments was now being blasted to celebrate the Bengals’ 19-17 victory that kept their playoff hopes alive with a confidence and bravado nobody could have imagined just five weeks ago.
Bengals fan playoff hopes with 19-17 win over sputtering Steelers: Takeaways
That was when these same Steelers posted 44 points at Paycor Stadium, spiraling the conversation around the Bengals into one of an offseason in need of major change. The Bengals were 4-8. All hope was lost. The season was an unmitigated disaster.
“Probably one of the lowest moments we’ve had sitting there staring at that record we had with the expectations we had,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “The choice the guys made was just stick with the process, man, stick with what we’re doing, believe in each other and everybody gave the most.”
Taking it in.
Locker Room Celebrations | @KetteringHealth pic.twitter.com/AxzxAQmuzc
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 5, 2025
Joe Burrow stood in front of a microphone at 4-8 with a cutting message through the dejection: “We will be remembered by how we handle this.”
Those memories will include Trey Hendrickson’s 3.5 sacks leading a win in the 19-degree temperatures Saturday in Pittsburgh, reminding the division of what they can be.
Following a night when the Bengals’ maligned defense saved the day by holding the Steelers to 17 points, including two late stops when put in tough spots by the special teams and offense, they have now ripped off five in a row to finish the regular season 9-8. They’ll watch closely on Sunday to see if their playoff prayers are answered in Denver and New York.
“They are not going to want us in this tournament,” Taylor said. “I promise you.”
If the Bengals don’t make the playoffs, there still will be plenty to draw from for the 2025 season from what unfolded over the last five weeks. There’s progress, specifically from a core of young defensive players who found ways to win games and make plays. All the problems that led to the team being in this spot in the first place still must be addressed, but this run proved something that was in doubt about the Bengals organization.
It proved the foundation is not cracked. The culture that built one of the best runs in franchise history remains solid.
“Nobody gives up,” cornerback Mike Hilton said, after admitting he was starting to think about where he would be going this offseason when the team fell to 4-8. “That’s just the love and respect we have for each other as a team. Guys want to go win games for each other. Over the last month, we played our best brand of football and gave us a chance to advance our season.”
If they do, an MVP candidate at quarterback, triple crown winner at receiver and NFL sacks leader and Defensive Player of the Year candidate at edge rusher could take aim at the Buffalo Bills.
3.5 sacks tonight. 17.5 sacks on the season.
Trey Hendrickson was a BEAST for the @Bengals 💪 pic.twitter.com/Ul2vloeM85
— NFL (@NFL) January 5, 2025
The difference over the last five weeks, though, wasn’t just Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Hendrickson. It was everyone else around them. That’s what made Burrow proud of the response to the plea he made that day.
“I am (happy with the response), I am,” he said. “I think we had our great players playing great. For the most part, they have all year. But we’ve had some young guys step up in spots and … they’ve been showing a lot of promise. So that’s exciting to have some of those guys step up like that and guys that we can count on.”
Guys such as fifth-round rookie cornerback Josh Newton, who rebounded from a rough moment on an early deep ball with a third-down pass breakup and knocking down a deep pass during a critical juncture of the fourth quarter. Guys such as edge rusher Joseph Ossai making the most of his opportunity and adding at least a half-sack in five of his final six games. Guys such as Cody Ford bumping around multiple offensive line positions, often without practice reps during the week, developing trust up front. Guys such as cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt rebounding from multiple benchings to start living up to lofty preseason expectations when the Bengals needed it most.
Hendrickson credited defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo for the conversations had when 4-8 and historically poor numbers defined the defense and the season.
“Things we needed to control and details of our defense needed to be tightened,” Hendrickson said. “I credit that with Lou Anarumo coming back and saying: ‘Look, let’s win the next game. Let’s get the details, fix the things we’ve been saying we want to fix. Not just saying them, doing them.’ From there, we kind of developed a new identity.”
All the elements going against the Bengals early in the season started going their way. They started the year 1-7 in one-score games. Then they won their last three in a row.
“I didn’t sit in my office worried at night: How is this team going to respond?” Taylor said. “I knew how they’d respond because I’d seen it and we all saw the results that had happened during the season. We all knew that it’s kind of one of those years where some of those games didn’t go our way and those are things we certainly can control. I can’t state enough of how proud I am of everybody that’s involved in this Bengals organization and the way that they’ve stuck together, and we finished with five in a row.”
Saturday night, this team was dripping in pride, confidence and — for the next 24 hours, at least — hope.
It’s hard not to think back to what happened the first three months of the season. Burrow admits he did. How could you not? One win in any of those seven one-score losses and the Bengals are already in the postseason. Instead, they are rooting for Carson Wentz, and Orlando Brown is sending “a mass f—ing text” to everyone he still knows on the Chiefs and offering to pay for Aaron Rodgers’ “next trip to Peru” if the Jets can beat the Dolphins.
“Just like with anything that doesn’t go your way in anybody’s life, whether it’s football or anything,” Burrow said, “you look back on the decisions that you made that could be different and played out differently. That’s hindsight. Everybody has that. We definitely had winnable games that we didn’t win and put ourselves in this position.”
In a season of the highest expectations, the Bengals recalibrated on the fly and found a way to make things interesting. There was no tank. There were no business decisions. They proved capable of putting the league on notice one last time.
That’s both frustrating and gratifying for this team. The Bengals controlled what they could control. They rallied and re-established the organizational culture. That matters. That’s impactful.
As for the possibility of doing much more in January? They wait.
“It’s not ideal, but we’ve put ourselves in this position,” Burrow said. “The odds are long, but we’ve got a shot.”
(Top photo of Trey Hendrickson: Sam Greene / Imagn Images)
