The Cincinnati Bengals host the Pittsburgh Steelerson “Thursday Night Football” at Paycor Stadium in a divisional game to start Week 7. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on Prime Video.
Cincinnati (2-4) is coming off a 27-18 loss to the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh (4-1) is coming off a 23-9 win over the Cleveland Browns.
Quarterback Joe Flacco will make his second start for the Bengals after being acquired in a trade from the Browns where Cincinnati received Flacco and a sixth round pick in exchange for a fifth round pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Flacco was 29-for-45 passing for 219 yards and two touchdowns in the Bengals’ 27-18 loss in Week 6 at Green Bay. He wasn’t intercepted and was sacked once, for a six-yard loss.
Here are the keys to victory for the Bengals:
Flacco, offense need to pick up where they left off
The Bengals made a second-half comeback against the Packers, but it was too little, too late. The offense had only 66 yards in the first half of the Week 6 loss compared to 202 in the second half. Flacco connected with wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and tight end Tanner Hudson for touchdowns and also completed a two-point conversion.
Cincinnati will need to find a way to continue that momentum against the Steelers’ 13th-ranked passing defense unless they can find a way to turn around the NFL’s worst rushing offense by yards (340) and attempts (108). The Bengals rank 29th in rushing touchdowns (2) and 31st in yards per attempt (3.1).
Cincinnati is going to have to score points to have a shot at beating Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers’ offense and it all starts with the veteran under center.
Get the pass rush home against Aaron Rodgers
The Steelers rank No. 13 in the NFL for net yards gained per pass attempt (6.5) and the Bengals’ defense is 30th, giving up 7.1 net yards per pass attempt. Cincinnati’s secondary has been opportunistic getting turnovers via tipped passes, but also has given up 13 touchdown passes through six games.
Everything starts up front and with Trey Hendrickson coming off a back injury in Week 6, everyone else in the Bengals’ front seven will need to step up to get pressure on Rodgers and reduce the amount of time he has to find his receivers.
Rodgers will likely add to his seven touchdown total if the Bengals can’t get home on pass plays.
Make it another AFC North classic
Whether you want to call it the “Icy Hot Bowl” or the “Battle of the Uncs,” Rodgers vs. Flacco in primetime has all the makings of a potential classic.
The two quarterbacks are a combined 81 years old, which makes it the second time in the Super Bowl era where two starting quarterbacks are both 40 or older. The other was when Tom Brady (45) and Drew Brees (40) faced off in 2020.
Both players got a full complement of reps on Sunday and with the short turnaround, neither is likely to be 100% by kickoff. Everything is going to hurt on Friday morning anyhow, so they might as well have a classic duel Thursday night. If Flacco can turn back the clock just a little, it’ll have the Bengals in prime position to get to 3-4 on the season with two division wins in hand.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Here are keys for Bengals to beat Steelers in NFL Week 7 Thursday Night Football
