Steelers-Bengals on 'Thursday Night Football': What We Learned from Cincinnati's 33-31 win over Pittsburgh

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• REWATCH: Steelers-Bengals on NFL+ Premium
• READ: Flacco leads CIN to win in battle for the ages vs. Rodgers
• READ: Steelers D authors 'unacceptable' performance in loss
• READ: Chase sets Bengals records with 16 catches on 23 targets
• READ: Rodgers passes Big Ben for fifth on career passing list

1. Flacco delivered a throwback gem as Bengals shocked Steelers. Mike Tomlin’s irritation over the Joe Flacco trade wasn’t just an act, it appears. Flacco threw for 342 yards, three touchdowns and coolly led the Bengals on the game-winning drive in the final seconds in his home debut as a Bengal, handing the Steelers their first AFC North loss and getting the best of Aaron Rodgers in the “Icy Hot Bowl.” Flacco was in total control even when things got hairy, overcoming a slow start and a 10-0 hole to lead scoring drives on seven of the Bengals’ final eight drives. And two came in the first half! The Bengals had gone 30 straight first-half possessions without a TD, then went back to back against the Steelers. The Bengals’ lead slipped away late, but Flacco drove the Bengals the length of the field, with a crucial catch by Tee Higgins, who intentionally went down before the end zone. What a difference Flacco has made in such a short time. He plays the game with the demeanor -- and the countenance -- of a contract killer, and that’s exactly what the Bengals needed.
2. Rodgers rallied the Steelers, but they came up short. Aaron Rodgers got the Steelers off to a strong start, but once they had a Jaylen Warren TD run called back by penalty, the game turned. Rodgers threw two first-half interceptions, watching a 10-0 lead turn into a 17-10 halftime deficit. The second pick wasn’t Rodgers’ fault; it was a great defensive play, with DK Metcalf unable to squeeze the ball in fully. The second pick was a strange-looking play. But Rodgers rallied to lead the Steelers on three second-half TD drives, including a 68-yard missile to Pat Freiermuth for the go-ahead score on a busted coverage. Freiermuth had a massive second half, but Metcalf had one 5-yard reception in the final 53 minutes of the game. The Steelers also killed themselves with offensive line penalties, and Mike Tomlin opted to punt on fourth-and-4 from his own 45-yard line with just over five minutes left. The Steelers came up a possession short.
3. Chase turned in an epic performance for the Bengals. Ja'Marr Chase deserved his own section after the show he put on Thursday night. He caught a club-record 16 passes on 23 targets -- tied for the third-most in a game since 1978 -- for 161 yards and a touchdown, carving up the Steelers repeatedly. Jalen Ramsey, Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay and Brandin Echols each had their cracks at Chase, and none truly had success. Even when Chase wasn’t getting the ball, he was drawing safety attention away -- such as on Andrei Iosivas’s 37-yard catch -- and drawing penalties from Steelers DBs. Chase had a little trouble hanging onto the football Thursday, dropping a few passes that could have beefed his total even more. Joe Flacco even looked visibly shocked when Chase dropped an easier one late in the game. But he showed the value of what a true WR1 can bring to a game. The Steelers had no answers for Chase.
4. Steelers defense turned in a forgettable night. It was a fairly ugly night for the Steelers defense and a step backward from what they’d done recently. The Steelers appeared to be turning the corner defensively, but Thursday featured sloppy tackling (14 missed tackles), loose coverage and no semblance of a pass rush. It was also a quiet night from the Steelers’ stars on D, including T.J. Watt, at least until very late. This unit was relatively healthy, too, which made the performance all the more disappointing. It’s understandable that the Steelers’ corners struggled with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. But they awakened a completely dormant Bengals run game and allowed two of the biggest pass plays to Iosivas and Noah Fant. Plus, even if it didn’t really hurt them, how did they allow Joe Flacco to pick up 12 yards on a read-option keeper? Just a bad all-around night on that side of the ball.
5. Run game, timely defensive plays carried Bengals. If you predicted that the Bengals defense and run game would play major roles in an upset of the Steelers, congrats to you. The Bengals hadn’t run for more than 85 yards in a game this season coming in, but they cranked out 142 on Thursday, at 6.2 yards per clip. Chase Brown found daylight for the first time really all season with runs of 27 and 37 yards, coming in with a season-long run of 13. And the expectations for a Cincinnati defense that had no Trey Hendrickson and benched Cam Taylor-Britt weren’t high coming in either. There was some sloppy tackling and shaky moments in the second half, with the Steelers scoring three TDs to take a late lead. But Jordan Battle and DJ Turner had interceptions in a heroic effort from Cincinnati’s secondary. It held DK Metcalf relatively in check and only had a few obvious coverage busts. All told, the units that needed to step up did exactly that.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Steelers-Bengals (via NFL Pro): Aaron Rodgers had two pass plays, both to Jonnu Smith in the first half, with snap-to-pass times of 8.60 and 8.36 seconds. Rodgers and the Steelers entered Thursday night as the quickest snap-to-pass team in the NFL.

NFL Research: Aaron Rodgers (64,222 pass yards) passed Ben Roethlisberger (64,088) for the fifth-most career passing yards in NFL history on Thursday night.