The blood-boiling rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals concluded its 2015 regular season edition Sunday with a romp by Big Ben & Co.
Sunday's contest saw a pregame dust up, a two NSFWmessages from injuredBengals corner Adam Jones and plenty of highlights. In the two games this season, each won a game and each franchise lost a key member due to injury -- Steelers' Le'Veon Bell in Week 8; Bengals' Andy Dalton Sunday.
Steelers offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert hopes the teams get to renew the rivalry in the playoffs:
"All I want for Christmas is the Bengals. Would love to see them in the playoffs where they choke. The talking is done between the lines," Gilbert wrote on Twitter. He has since deleted the tweet.
If the AFC North rivals do meet in the playoffs, the Bengals could be without Dalton -- depending on how you feel about the "Dalton chokes in the playoffs" storyline, that could be twisted into a good or bad omen.
To be fair, it's not as if the recent iteration of the Steelers has been better than the Bengals when it comes to the playoffs. Pittsburgh has been to the playoffs just twice since losing in Super Bowl XLV (2010 season). The Steelers lost both Wild Card games over that five-season stretch. The Bengals might be considered chokers, but they have gotten there more often than Pittsburgh and have just as many playoff wins since 2010: zero.
Regardless of the history, we would love to see a rubber match between Pittsburgh and Cincy in January, if only to see how cantankerous the sides become with a third meeting.Â
