Was Ke’Shawn Williams just a deep cover agent all along? Remember that he was claimed after the Steelers cut him last December and the Bengals had already played both games against Pittsburgh. So, by some shocking coincidence, after being a serviceable returner for several games, he suddenly becomes a Fifth Columnist and sabotages the game against his old team from within? Color me suspicious.
Williams was cut on Tuesday after he muffed a critical punt and took another return sideways for some 30 yards before being tackled. Those two plays alone could be considered the decisive factors in Cincinnati’s frustrating 30-27 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday, dropping them to 2-1 and dispelling, if not dissipating, the immaculate vibes around the team entering the game.
I approve of the Bengals taking the rare step of holding a player accountable and getting rid of him if he costs them a key game against a bitter rival. The overall special teams play, led by Evan MacPherson, the best kicker in football, has been solid (seventh DVOA). But the margins are so slim in the NFL, especially when playing against the hated Steelers, that things can blow at any weak seam.
As always, Pittsburgh proved to be kryptonite to anything good and hopeful about Cincinnati’s 2-0 start—in particular the defense, recipient of so much love for the first two Sundays. After scoring just a single offensive touchdown over their first two games, the Steelers put up a 30-burger on our supposedly rebuilt unit. Don’t blame Dexter Lawrence—his time on the field was successful, despite the WWE moves the Pittsburgh linemen employed. But Pittsburgh made considerable hay on the 11 snaps when he took a break, especially on the ground, with double the YPC and nearly quadruple the success rate.
The one way I was hoping the 2026 Bengals D would be different from past units was not allowing iffy opposing players to have their best days against Cincinnati. Tight end Darnell Washington is a classic example. He now has two 67-yard receiving games against the Bengals and just one other 60-yarder during the entirety of his three-plus seasons. It isn’t merely the yardage, of course, but the way he runs through weak tackle attempts to make enormous plays that grits the teeth. His reputation as a Baby Gronk rests entirely upon playing Cincinnati.
Then there is Aaron Rodgers, who would have already retired if it weren’t for the idea of playing Cincinnati twice a season. He has now played 21 games with Pittsburgh, counting the wild-card playoff game. He threw four TD passes in the 2025 opener against the hapless Jets; otherwise, he’s thrown three TD passes just twice in that period, both against the Bengals.
To his credit, Rodgers moved around well and stood up to plenty of hits on Sunday, but it’s just incredibly grating to watch him drain the final dregs from the Fountain of Youth while playing the Bengals. Remember in 2024, when Russell Wilson somehow put up 414 yards and three TDs against the Bengals in a season in which he never approached 300 yards in any other contest? That I fear is how we’ll look back upon Rodgers’ performance.
Another disappointment was that the Cincinnati offense hummed all day until that fateful last snap, when Joe Burrow tried to extend the play, got hit for about the only time in the game, and fumbled away the game-ender. Usually losses to the Steelers are defined by struggles against the Steel Curtain, version Whatever.0, but that was abundantly not the case Sunday. Cincinnati had a higher EPA/play than in any Burrow game against Pittsburgh except 2021. It was more reminiscent of a Ravens-Bengals encounter, especially the 2024 games Cincinnati conjured to lose 41-38 in OT and 35-34.
Burrow was on time and accurate all day, and Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins had their usual good games, helped by the absence of Joey Porter in the Pittsburgh secondary. But when winning time came, JB didn’t deliver.
Now all anyone wants to talk about is Scott Kacsmar’s nugget that Burrow is 1-34 in games the Bengals are behind with 8:00 to play. Scott is a former colleague of mine, and I respect his work greatly. But it should be remembered that he’s a Steelers fan and has devoted much of his online life to tearing down his enemies, mainly Tom Brady, but Burrow as well.
We all know Burrow has led the Bengals in dramatic situations and been let down by forces outside his control, starting from his very first game, when he took the team down the field while losing by 3 only to have a game-winning TD pass called back by dubious pass interference and then watching Randy Bullock miss the chip-shot tying field goal.
As far as I’m concerned, the only stat that matters in this instance is 0-2. In the Super Bowl and the subsequent AFC title game, Burrow had the ball in position to win both games and came up empty. Was that mainly due to having replacement-level linemen trying to block Hall of Fame defensive linemen? Of course, but that’s what separates the star-crossed franchises like Cincinnati from the blessed ones like K.C. and New England and, despite recent evidence to the contrary, Pittsburgh.
Anyway, onward! Next up is a Sunday home encounter, the first since the opener against Tampa, as another Florida team comes to town. (The third, Miami, is the following week’s opponent.) Jacksonville has been excellent for 10 of 12 quarters thus far in 2026, with a depressing second half in the Denver altitude the lone stretch of poor play. The Jags are second in the league in overall DVOA to San Francisco and have been excellent on both sides of the ball thus far. Their main Achilles heel, ironically, has been special teams, where they’re 19th despite Cam Little’s bionic leg.
Stopping Trevor Lawrence and the Jag attack will be compromised by the loss of slot corner Jalen Davis to a hamstring injury that was clarly debilitating him on Sunday. With his backup, Ja’Sir Taylor, already on IR, that lack of depth in the secondary we worried about all summer is about to face an acid test. Dax Hill will likely move inside on base downs, with D.J. Ivey and Bobo Davis splitting perimeter work with D.J. Turner. Meanwhile, both Bryan Cook and Kyle Duggar limped out of Sunday’s game, and safety will also be patchwork depending upon their recovery time.
In other words, expect a shootout, much like the ones Cincinnati bested Jacksonville in during both 2024 and 2025. The Jags’ O-line has been better than the sum of its parts, but isn’t an all-star unit, so if the Bengals are to slow them down it will have to be the D-line that gets the job done. I’m sure they’re itching to accomplish just that after allowing Rodgers to party like it was 2021.
Regardless of how Sunday plays out, a 3-1 month will feel a whole lot better than 2-2, that’s for certain.
Robert Weintraub heads up Bengals coverage for Cincinnati Magazine and has written for The New York Times, Grantland, Slate, and Deadspin. Follow him on X at @robwein.
