PITTSBURGH — Maybe it wasn’t a concession speech, even if it sounded like one.
“They’re clearly the best team in the division,” Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark said after the Bengals beat the Steelers 18-12 on Sunday to take control of the AFC North. “I’d give my left arm to play them again.”
The Bengals (7-2) beat the Steelers (6-3) at their own game in their own stadium, where Pittsburgh had won its last 10. They smothered Ben Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh’s running game, yielded only four field goals by Jeff Reed and made the only big play of the tight- as-it-gets game — Bernard Scott’s 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
“That’s probably the most grinding football game I ever experienced,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.
By sweeping the season series for the first time since 1998, the Bengals effectively lead Pittsburgh by two games because they own the tiebreaker and, for the first time in their history, a 5-0 division record.
“This is a breath of fresh air to be at this point of the season and to be playing for a reason,” Chad Ochocinco said. “It feels really good.”
The Bengals, a lowly 4-11-1 last season, swept both Baltimore and Pittsburgh a season after those teams played for the AFC title. They’ve won seven of eight and are 4-0 on the road.
“There was just something missing all day. I don’t know what it was,” Roethlisberger said.
