The Cincinnati Bengals saw all their players, including veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, step up to break their 4-game losing streak with an upset win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kicker Evan McPherson and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase were equally impressive. With the Bengals back to winning ways, head coach Zac Taylor described the locker room’s mindset that fueled their 33-31 victory in Week 7.

“It’s been too long since we won,” Taylor said. “You need the results, and we’ve got the result. There were no nonbelievers in that locker room… It’s significant to get a divisional win. 2-0 in the division.”

While the Steelers are still on top in the AFC North with a 4-2 record, the Bengals are slowly catching up. With a 3-4 record, they are just 1.5 games behind Pittsburgh, with the 1-5 Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns languishing in the 3rd and 4th spots, respectively.

Granted, this wasn’t exactly a must-win game for Taylor’s men, but the stakes were still big.

“The division is where it is right now,” the coach explained in the build-up to the game. “As it stands, it’s the top two teams, and you get a chance to knock them down a peg and put yourself up one. So our guys understand what’s at stake, and it’s big for us.” “We’ll treat it as such, and guys got to get to work, and we’ve got to have a great performance by everybody.”

But even a major upset win cannot hide the fact that the Bengals’ defense still needs work. Last week, they missed 19 tackles against the Green Bay Packers. This week, too, it was more of the same, with missed tackles giving away more than 100 free yards to the Steelers’ offense.

On the brighter side, Flacco seems to be settling in well.

Joe Flacco’s chemistry with Ja’Marr Chase took the spotlight

The Bengals fans couldn’t thank the Cleveland Browns enough for letting Flacco go. Just nine days into the franchise, Flacco completed 31 of 47 passes for 328 yards and three touchdowns in the game. Understandably, Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin wasn’t impressed with the decision.

“[Browns GM] Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us,” Tomlin said, “because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area, but that’s just my personal feelings.”

The veteran quarterback has found no problem establishing good chemistry with the wide receivers in Cincinnati, especially Ja’Marr Chase. It was quite evident in the Packers game as Chase recorded 10 receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown, while helping the QB to 200+ yards for the first time in four games. Against the Steelers, too, the WR was brilliant as he caught the ball 16 times for 161 yards and a touchdown.

Despite the best efforts from cornerbacks Joey Porter Jr., Darius Slay, and Jalen Ramsey, even Tee Higgins caught six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.

The Bengals will hope for more of the same from their offense as they look to clean up their defense heading into the game against the New York Jets.