Steelers-Bengals rivalry typically heats up when December arrives

When it comes to identifying the Steelers' most prominent, fiercest rival, the Cleveland Browns seemingly have been there forever.

The Baltimore Ravens get the nod for the most recognizable rival in recent years. The Houston Oilers had a run as the Steelers' primary foil in the late 1970s. And the Jacksonville Jaguars did the same for a brief period two decades later.

The Cincinnati Bengals? They might be the Steelers' forgotten rival, of sorts. They are, however, the only team that has remained the Steelers' continuous division rival during the past 4 ¹⁄₂ decades. And particularly recently, there have been plenty of important, late-season games between them.

When the teams kick off at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, it will mark the fifth December meeting in the past four seasons involving playoff implications — and the second in 22 days.

“Cincy's run the division for the last four years,” Steelers guard Ramon Foster said. “Everybody makes a big deal about the Baltimore game, but the Bengals game is just as important and just as heated.”

“Heated” is subjective. But the importance of many late-season Steelers-Bengals games over the past decade cannot be understated.

Cincinnati, after all, is the only AFC North team that has made the playoffs every season since 2011.

“I feel like the Bengals rivalry is coming along just over the past couple years because of how good they've been and how big the games have been,” said Steelers special teamer Ross Ventrone, a Chartiers Valley alumnus who was raised a Steelers fan.

“I always grew up with the Cleveland and the Baltimore rivalry more so, but now Cincinnati is just as big.”

Legacy from the start

Upon joining the NFL in 1970, Cincinnati split four of the first five season series with the Steelers, even as the Steelers were winning the first of their Super Bowls.

“The Bengals were always a problem for us,” longtime Steelers linebacker Andy Russell said. “We knew we had to beat the Bengals, and we did most of the time but not all the time.”

Like they did with most of the rest of the NFL, the Steelers went on to dominate the rest of the series during '70s.

That includes wins in late-season meetings in 1975 and '76, games that featured teams with combined records of 16-6 and 21-3.

“The Bengals have always been one of those teams that kind of sneaks up on you,” former Steelers running back Rocky Bleier said. “We'd have battles with them and go back and forth. Some of our toughest games were against Cincinnati.

“And they were winning. That's the reason the Ravens became a dominant rivalry. Why? Because they were winning.”

‘Always a lot of emotion'

The Bengals did more winning than the Steelers during the '80s, claiming two AFC titles while the Steelers largely languished.

It was therefore perhaps fitting the Bengals delivered a critical blow to the Steelers' playoffs hopes in what was the final meaningful stretch run of Chuck Noll's career with a 16-12 win Dec. 2, 1990, in Pittsburgh.

The loss left the Steelers the odd team out of a three-way tie atop the AFC Central. Cincinnati was crowned via a tiebreaker, in part, by beating the Steelers.

Steelers radio color commentator Tunch Ilkin was an offensive lineman for Noll for 12 seasons.

“Chuck was very intense before the Bengals games,” Ilkin said, speculating it was because the Bengals were cofounded by Noll's coach as a player, Paul Brown.

It also didn't hurt that Noll and then-Bengals coach Sam Wyche had a perceived rivalry.

“There was always kind of a richness to the Bengals games. It seemed like there was a lot at stake,” Ilkin said. “Those games, there was always a lot of emotion.”

Rebirth of a rivalry

The Bengals emerged from their Dave Shula/Bruce Coslet dark ages in 2005 with their first playoff appearance in 15 years.

Who did they beat to clinch their first winning season during that span? The Steelers, of course. But the Steelers would get revenge in the most opportune manner.

A 38-31 Cincinnati win at Heinz Field on Dec. 4, 2005, is perhaps most remembered for T.J. Houshmandzadeh celebrating a touchdown catch by wiping his cleats with a Terrible Towel.

The game all but locked up the AFC North for Cincinnati, but the Steelers would win eight in a row, including at Cincinnati in the wild-card round, en route to the Super Bowl XL title.

The Steelers have won 12 of 16 in the series dating to 2006, but the losses (two in 2009, one each in '12 and '13) have been costly. A win in any of those four would have meant they made the playoffs.

Western Pennsylvania native and Steelers backup quarterback Bruce Gradkowski played for the Bengals in 2011-12.

“Bengals-Steelers is one of those weeks where you bring two chin straps to the game. You know it's going to be a hard-hitting matchup,” Gradkowski said. “And then this ... amplifies it, both teams in the chase for the division title.”

More than anything, just like the Browns or Ravens, Oilers or Jaguars, the ebbs and flows in the intensity of the rivalry coincide with the success levels of the organizations over the past 45 seasons.

With the teams combining for eight playoff appearances and one losing season over the past six years, the intensity is high for Steelers-Bengals.

“The fans and media might think they are a forgotten rival,” former Steelers safety Mike Wagner said, “but I guarantee you the Steelers organization and the players and coaches haven't forgotten it at all.

“They're a contender, and the Bengals game is always one the Steelers have gotten up for.”

Especially when so much is at stake.

Chris Adamski is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.