The end of Bengals-Steelers was a bouillabaisse of great plays, stupidity and controversy wrapped into 120 seconds

When the two-minute warning blew during the fourth quarter in Cincinnati on Sunday, the game seemed geared for an eventful finish. But even those who were expecting some shenanigans had to be surprised by everything that occurred during the final 120 seconds.

The game turned from relatively uneventful to a thriller a few minutes earlier with Cincinnati rallying from 15-0 at the start of the fourth quarter to 15-10 at the two-minute warning. The Bengals had just converted a fourth-and-2 to keep their drive alive. When the two-minute warning blew, Cincinnati had second-and-7 at the Pittsburgh 25-yard line. Two plays later, A.J. McCarron hit A.J. Green for the go-ahead touchdown.

Forget the fact the Bengals ran a heinous two-point conversion play that predictably failed, the Bengals were in the lead! Was Cincinnati really going to win its first playoff game in 25 years on the heels of a 15-point fourth quarter comeback led by A.J. freaking McCarron? It sure looked that way.

It really looked that way just moments later when Vontaze Burfict intercepted Landry Jones to give the Bengals the ball back deep in Pittsburgh territory.

Burfict celebrated the interception by trotting some 70 yards to and through the other end zone and all the way into the locker room. Seemingly, the celebration symbolized the end of the comeback and the game. We can all go home now.

Except nothing is ever that simple. Especially not in this game. Bengals fans probably hadn’t stopped giving high fives in the stands when, on the very next play, Cincinnati’s Jeremy Hill fumbled while trying to run out the clock. The Steelers recovered and in doing so pulled the fork out of their back.

The two plays were about as big of swings from high to low as possible and occurred back-to-back. According to the Pro Football Reference win probability calculator, the Steelers had a 27.93 percent chance to win before the interception. It dropped to a 3.69 percent chance after the pick, only to jump back to a 19.76 percent chance following the fumble. Gigantic swings, in the span of 20 seconds.

So now the Steelers had the ball back with a chance to win the game. Oh, and Ben Roethlisberger is back after missing a couple series with an injury. All he’s faced with is driving some 70 yards against a very good defense with time running out. That’s when the Steelers got a massive assist from the Bengals.

With 28 seconds left, Pittsburgh faced fourth-and-3 from its own 41-yard line. It was able to convert and move the ball to the Cincinnati 47-yard line on a nice pass to Antonio Brown. The Steelers called their final timeout. They had 22 seconds and a fresh set of downs to move the ball at least 10 yards to set up a long FG try.

On the very next play, Roethlisberger threw incomplete to Brown, but Brown took a huge illegal hit from Burfict.

That’s unnecessary in any situation, but just brutally consequential in that situation. Except the Bengals weren’t done shooting themselves in the foot. Officials were sorting out the penalty and Brown was being helped off the field when suddenly a wild Joey Porter appeared on the field. Porter is the Steelers linebacker coach and had no business being on the field. In fact, he should have been flagged for being out there. That would have moved the ball right back to the Cincinnati 47-yard line.

There was a flag all right ... on the Bengals. Pacman Jones did not take well to Porter being out there and shoved the coach. The referee then threw a flag on Jones for unsportsmanlike conduct.

That appears to be the wrong call in all honesty, but regardless of whether referees missed a flag on Porter, Jones gave them a reason to flag him by going in for the shove. And just like that, the Steelers went from facing second-and-10 from the 47 with 18 seconds left and no timeouts (a 38.31 percent win probability) to first-and-10 from the Cincinnati 17-yard line (a 76.46 percent win probability).

Chris Boswell drilled the 35-yard try to make it 18-16. A few seconds later, McCarron’s final attempt fell incomplete and a roller coaster final 120 seconds was finally complete.

A touchdown. Two turnovers in two plays. A return from injury. A missed flag. Two inexcusable flags. A game-winning FG. What a finish.