Analyzing the Steelers’ Week 17 win over the Bengals, by the Numbers

7

With Ben Roethlisberger’s interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter, it marked the Steelers’ seventh straight game in which they turned the ball over. Over this stretch, the Steelers were -10 in turnover margin, and had a negative margin in six of the seven games.

71

The Steelers managed to hold the Bengals to only 71 passing yards. These yards came on 95 yards of completions by Jeff Driskel and 24 yards lost due to sacks. The only game in 2018 in which the Steelers held a team to less passing yards was against the Jacksonville Jaguars (64). It was the seventh time under Mike Tomlin where the Steelers have held an opponent to under 75 yards passing, all of which were victories.

4.6

With 64 yards on 14 carries, James Conner returned to the lineup with an average of 4.6 yards per attempt. On the season, Connor averaged 4.5 yards per rush with 973 yards or 215 attempts.

31% v. 69%

Even though the Steelers were going up against the worst run defense in the league, they still chose to pass the ball almost 70% of their plays. Only rushing the ball 31% of the time is a mystery where many have questioned the reasoning behind this philosophy all season.

64

With 64 yards, James Washington led the Steelers in receiving yards against the Bengals. Although the yardage is not super-star quality as of yet, Washington was the team leader in two out of the three final games.

9

The Steelers managed to hold the Bengals to only nine first downs in the entire game on Sunday. It was the first time since Week 2 of 2011 against the Seattle Seahawks where the Steelers held a team to single-digit first downs. Although this stat seems impressive, it is skewed by the fact that four of the Bengals top play-makers finished the season on injured reserve.