Steelers vs. Bengals 2016 live stream: Start time, TV schedule and how to watch NFL playoffs online
The Steelers have won nine of 12 matchups against the Bengals since 2010, including five of six at Paul Brown Stadium during that span.
Wild Card Saturday concludes with another round of the league's best grudge match, an AFC North battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.
There is no shortage of history and bad blood between these division rivals. Their most recent matchup in Week 14 was a chippy, hard-hitting contest marred by an ugly pregame brawl than resulted in nearly $140,000 of fines handed out to players on both teams.
The Steelers and Bengals split their two meetings during the regular season, but Pittsburgh has owned the rivalry recently. The Black and Gold are 9-3 against Cincy since the start of 2010, including a 5-1 mark at Paul Brown Stadium. Their only other playoff matchup came in 2005, when Cincinnati lost at home to the Steelers in the Wild Card round, after then-Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer severely injured his knee early in the game.
Losing in the playoffs has become a predictable theme for the Bengals. They have an NFL-worst 5-13 playoff record all-time and haven't won a postseason game since January 1991, the league's longest active drought. Head coach Marvin Lewis is 0-6 in the postseason and the team has suffered one-and-done exits in each of the last four years.
Although recent history suggests Cincinnati doesn't have much staying power once the calendar flips to January, there is some precedent for a different outcome this year. The 2015 Bengals matched the 1981 and 1988 teams with a franchise-record 12 wins during the regular season. Both of those clubs advanced to the Super Bowl, giving fans in Cincy a glimmer of hope that this will finally be the year the Bengals extinguish their ugly playoff demons.
The Steelers, meanwhile, have one of the league's best playoff pedigrees. They are 33-22 in the postseason, the fourth-best mark all-time, and are one win shy of the NFL record for postseason victories held by the Dallas Cowboys. However, they haven't won a playoff game since the 2010 season, which is an eternity for a fan base that is accustomed to rooting for its team deep into the month of January.
There is a general feeling in the Steel City that this year's team could reverse that losing trend. Despite a shocking loss to the Ravens in Week 16, the Steelers could be the scariest AFC team in the playoffs.
They feature an explosive, game-changing offense that possesses the most aerial firepower in the league. With Ben Roethlisberger under center, they averaged a league-best 328 passing yards per game, and the Steelers scored at least 30 points in seven of the 12 games he played. Over the final 10 weeks of the season (a stretch during which Big Ben appeared in every game), no team put up more total yards than Pittsburgh.
On the other side of the ball, their defense has been uneven at times but has been stout inside the 20-yard line, ranking sixth in red zone efficiency. They’ve also been boosted by an opportunistic group that tied for the third-most takeaways in the league. Pittsburgh was 6-0 this season when forcing multiple turnovers.
If there is any team in the league that can slow down the Steelers’ potent passing attack and red-hot offense, it might be the Bengals. They gave up the second-fewest points in the league and have one of the best secondaries in the NFL. During the regular season, the Bengals ranked fourth in interception rate, sixth in passing yards per play allowed and fifth in opponent passer rating.
How to Watch
When: 8:15 p.m. ET Saturday
Where: Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati
TV: CBS
Announcers: Jim Nantz, Phill Simms, Tracy Wolfson
Online: NFL GamePass
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