Dale Lolley

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the final installment in a series of articles looking back ay some of the highlights from the 2024 season.

One of the biggest questions surrounding the 2024 Steelers was if the team was capable of winning a shootout against some of the NFL's top offenses.

In a Dec. 1 game at Cincinnati, the Steelers got an opportunity to do just that.

Joe Burrow and the Bengals came into the Week 13 meeting with the Steelers having scored 25 or more points in seven of their 11 games. And with this game taking place in Cincinnati, the Steelers knew they were going to have to attack coming out of the gate.

The Steelers forced a punt on the game's opening possession and went on the attack on their first possession, with Russell Wilson throwing passes on their first four plays and on nine of their first 11.

Unfortunately for the Steelers, the fourth pass was intercepted when Cincinnati's Cam Taylor-Britt threw wide receiver George Pickens to the ground by his head at the line of scrimmage and stepped in front of Wilson's pass intended for the receiver, returning it 51 yards for the game's first score.

But Wilson and company immediately answered, as he quickly moved the Steelers back down the field and threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Pickens to finish off the next possession.

"We wanted to come out and attack, because we knew what they would give us," said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. "That's what I mean about the depths of these waters in these divisional relationships. It is not checkers it's chess."

The arial onslaught continued, as Wilson added a 23-yard TD pass to Calvin Austin III and Najee Harris had a 10-yard scoring run, while the Steelers added a pair of late Chris Boswell field goals to take a 27-21 lead into halftime.

Wilson threw his third TD pass in the third quarter, this one to Pat Freiermuth, as he would go on to complete 29 of 38 passes for 414 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in a 44-38 win in which the Steelers led 41-24 when rookie Payton Wilson returned a Burrow fumble 21 yards for a touchdown with 11 minutes remaining in the game.

"It was fun," said Wilson, whose yardage total was the second-most of his 13-year NFL career. "We just had a great time. We knew it was going to be a heavyweight fight."

It was a heavyweight fight won with a massive offense performance.

The Steelers finished with a season-high 520 total yards, as 10 different players caught passes, seven of whom had 29 or more receiving yards.

Najee Harris had 129 total yards, gaining 79 yards on the ground to go along with six receptions for 54 yards.