After winning three back-to-back games in the NFL 2025 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ winning streak came to an end at the hands of the struggling Cincinnati Bengals in a close 31-33 game. After the game, Steelers’ safety Juan Thornhill sent an emotional message.

“God can’t fall.” Thornhill posted this quote in an Instagram story that also featured a black-and-white photo of himself (head down) sitting in the dugout.

Thornhill has delivered it on the field throughout the season, as he has a total of 22 solo tackles and 1 pass deflection.

In the game against the Bengals, Thornhill recorded 4 sacks, 3 solo and 1 assist. Thornhill was successful in confining Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase to force a punt by Ryan Rehkow.

Despite a good performance by Juan Thornhill, the Steelers suffered an embarrassing loss to the Bengals. Why embarrassing? The Bengals were not stepping on the gridiron as favorites, and the Steelers’ defense had a devastating collapse. This might be the reason for Thornhill’s emotional message after the game.

The Bengals entered the game with 4 straight losses and were underdogs against the strong Steelers. Yet the Bengals defied all the odds and delivered an embarrassing loss to the Steelers.

The Bengals were already dealing with injuries; the biggest were quarterback Joe Burrow and defensive end Trey Hendrickson. Still, they made the Steelers’ strong defense look like an average-performing team. Whatever strategy the Steelers’ defense came up with against QB Joe Flacco didn’t work, as he threw for 342 yards and even had three touchdowns in an exceptional win.

The Steelers’ defense was supposed to be their backbone, but it fell apart against an injury-hit Bengals squad. Despite ranking among the NFL’s top five teams in total tackles (400+), they were shredded by Joe Burrow’s crew. Steelers writer Raylend Bickley noted the same “miscommunications” and blown coverages that haunted them last year, calling it unacceptable to leave “the best receiver in the NFL running uncovered.” Now sitting at 4-2, Pittsburgh’s solid record can’t hide another frustrating streak they failed to snap in Cincinnati.

Steelers’ Thursday night nightmare continues

The one streak that the Steelers were looking to break against the Bengals was their Thursday night losses, but they failed. The Steelers have never won a Thursday night divisional matchup against any divisional opponent, and this continues after the loss against the Bengals.

In the franchise history, the game against the Bengals was the Steelers’ ninth Thursday night game against divisional rivals. And now, after the game, the Steelers stand at 0-9, and of those 9 losses, 7 came under the head coach Mike Tomlin.

This rare Thursday losing streak for the Steelers started way back in 1980, when they lost to the Houston Oilers. Back then, it would have looked like just another loss on a Thursday night against divisional rivals, but nobody would have guessed that it would continue for 45 years and haunt the Steelers in 2025 as well.

The Steelers have carried on this streak for so long that two of the divisional rivals the Steelers played against are no longer in their division —the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Oilers/Tennessee Titans.

Even though the Steelers didn’t have the Thursday night nightmare in their mind, they were hammered down by the Bengals, and that’s what led to an emotional post from Thornhill. Fans will hope that Thornhill, along with the team will bounce back in the upcoming week.