Christmas is this week, which means Monday Night Football will be ending soon. The Week 15 edition of the ESPN NFL broadcast includes the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Cincinnati Bengals. Kickoff for tonight’s game will be at 8:15 p.m ET and will stream on the ESPN and Yahoo app along with it airing on ESPN.
The Steelers (11-2) have clinched a playoff spot but are in a must-win situation. After losing the last two games, Pittsburgh has lost its grip on first place in the AFC, and the Cleveland Browns are looking to steal the AFC North from them. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin recently talked about what the Steelers need to do to get back on track.
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“We needed to get recalibrated at the top of the week and get singularly professionally focused on this week’s challenge,” Tomlin said on the Steelers official website. “We have an opportunity to go on the road and win our fifth AFC North game to wrap a bow around the AFC North, if you will, and so there are enough things that lie ahead for us that we need to get focused and centered in that regard.” If the Steelers win tonight, it will be their fourth division title since 2014. Tomlin said winning tonight is big because a division title is a big step towards winning a Super Bowl.
“I understand that the ultimate goal is what it is, but if you’re moving fluidly on a trajectory to push you toward that ultimate goal there are certain things that occur, and the hat and T-shirt game is usually the first thing that occurs,” he said. “So we’re appreciative of the position that we’re in, but we also don’t feel like we won the lottery.”
The Steelers are facing a team that has struggled to find wins all year. After beating the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 1, the Bengals (2-10-1) have lost their last five games. Things went south for the Bengals when rookie quarterback Joe Burrow tore his ACL in Week 11, and he’s now out for the rest of the year.
“We just have to play better football. We have to win the turnover battle,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said on the team’s official website. “We haven’t won the turnover battle in a long time. They beat us in that the last time we played them. That’s a big point of emphasis for us this week.
