The Cincinnati Bengals improved to 7-4 on the season following a dominating performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday. Cincinnati's 41-10 win over Pittsburgh marks the first time the Bengals have swept the Steelers since 2009.
The Bengals are now 3-1 in the AFC North.
Bengals vs. Steelers:Cincinnati demolishes rival in landscape-changing win
Sunday's game was the Bengals' best offensive performance of the season. From the opening drive that started with a heavy dose of Joe Mixon, Cincinnati imposed its will on Pittsburgh for the entire game.
The Bengals went into halftime with a 31-3 lead over the Steelers after a pick-six by Mike Hilton with 0:07 to play in the first half.
The Bengals put the game out of reach in the third quarter when the team took a 34-3 lead and Burrow's day was done with 10:36 to play in the fourth quarter.
Here's what we learned from the Bengals' Week 12 win over the Steelers:
Joe Mixon sets new career-high with impressive rushing performance against Steelers
In the Bengals' Week 11 win over the Raiders, the Bengals ran Joe Mixon 30 times and he rushed for over 100 yards.
Against the Steelers, the Bengals followed a similar blueprint. Mixon rushed for 165 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns. This performance topped his previous career-high of 162 yards in a game.
Pittsburgh's head coach Mike Tomlin said in his weekly press conference prior to the game his team couldn't let Mixon get going and although the Steelers knew he was coming, they couldn't stop him.
Mixon is playing with extreme confidence right now and it's justified. In the last two weeks, neither of the Bengals' opponents have been able to stop him.
Mixon has now rushed for multiple touchdowns in four straight games.
Tee Higgins has best game of 2021 season
It had been a while since Tee Higgins has taken over a game. Against the Steelers, Higgins was Joe Burrow's main target.
Higgins made several contested catches that turned into explosive plays for Cincinnati. Higgins' eye-popping touchdown 32-yard touchdown play put the Bengals up 17-3 and was one of the most impressive plays of the season.
Cincinnati's defense puts cherry on top of performance with three turnovers
Mike Hilton, Trey Hendrickson and Eli Apple all forced turnovers in the win.
Apple's came first when he picked off Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the first quarter. He now has interceptions in back-to-back games after picking off Derek Carr last week in Las Vegas.
Hilton's pick-six on Roethlisberger essentially put the game out of reach heading into halftime and the Bengals' bench area erupted to celebrate Hilton making a statement play against his former team. Hendrickson, who now has a sack in the last seven games, took Roethlisberger down and forced a fumble on the play.
The Bengals have been emphasizing creating more turnovers on defense and they came in bunches against the Steelers.
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