Bye-Week Scoreboard Watching: Sunday in Madrid and New Orleans Sets Up the Bengals Showdown

The Pittsburgh Steelers have the weekend off, and for once, that is the best seat in the house. At 6-2, alone in first place in the AFC North and riding a four-game winning streak, Pittsburgh gets to spend its Week 9 bye watching the rest of the division play — and Sunday's results will decide exactly how big the November 15 trip to Cincinnati feels. The game that matters most kicks off before most Pittsburgh fans have finished their coffee. The Cincinnati Bengals (5-2), winners of three straight and one game behind the Steelers, travel overseas to face the Atlanta Falcons (3-5) in Madrid on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET. A Bengals loss would hand Pittsburgh real breathing room before the rematch. A Cincinnati win sets up a meeting of two 6-2 teams under the lights at Paycor Stadium — with the division lead effectively on the table. The other game worth a glance is Cleveland (5-3) at New Orleans (2-5) at 1 p.m. ET. The Steelers already beat both of those teams in the past two weeks — 16-10 over the Saints in Paris, then the 27-6 demolition of the Browns — so a Saints win would be a small favor returned. Either way, Pittsburgh comes out of the bye with a clearer picture of the race and a divisional showdown on the horizon. The formula travels well The Steelers closed the first half with a statement against Cleveland: 200 rushing yards, eight sacks, and a Browns ground game held to 34 yards. The defense has allowed only one second-half touchdown all season. Jaylen Warren is the engine — 704 rushing yards on 119 carries (5.9 per carry) through eight games, plus 25 catches for 294 yards and a touchdown. His 143-yard day against Cleveland tied his career high. Aaron Rodgers, in what he has said is his final NFL season, has thrown for 1,871 yards with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions, completing 60.8 percent of his passes for an 86.2 passer rating. The weak spot remains protection: he has been sacked 23 times, and the bye week gives the line time to address it. The offense as a whole is still a work in progress at 22.5 points per game (18th in the league) and 328.4 yards per game (19th). Injury updates: reinforcements are coming The bye is already paying off in the training room. Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., out since Week 4 on injured reserve with a foot injury, has begun running and is expected back for the Bengals game, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Roman Wilson (finger) is one more week behind him, eligible to return in Week 11. Ben Skowronek, who was close to playing last Sunday, is expected back for Cincinnati as well, and defensive lineman Derrick Harmon (foot) is eligible to return in Week 10. Within the next two games, the Steelers should have their full receiving group back. The news is worse for the next opponent. Cincinnati placed rookie pass rusher Cashius Howell on injured reserve Tuesday after wrist surgery. He will miss at least the next four games, including the November 15 meeting. Howell had played 41 percent of the Bengals' defensive snaps for a unit that ranks fourth in the league in sack rate (8.1 percent) — and with Rodgers already sacked 23 times, any thinning of that pass rush matters. Former first-round pick Shamar Stewart is expected to take on additional snaps in Howell's place. Elsewhere in the division, Baltimore's slide continues. The Ravens lost their fourth straight Thursday night, 33-10 to Jacksonville, falling to 4-5, and Lamar Jackson is on injured reserve after thumb surgery, out at least four weeks and possibly the rest of the season. Tuesday's trade deadline, then the stretch that defines the season General manager Omar Khan faces the November 10 trade deadline with no more games to evaluate before it — eight games of evidence is all he gets. The Steelers have already traded cornerback Joey Porter Jr. to Dallas for a 2028 second-round pick and a 2027 sixth-rounder, and with Pittman and Wilson on injured reserve, the case for adding another receiver for Rodgers is the loudest one in the building. Then comes the stretch head coach Mike McCarthy, in his first year on the job, has already circled. "We have a three-game sequence coming up," McCarthy said this week. "It's important for us to go get all three of these and make some noise here around the league." It starts Sunday night, November 15, at Cincinnati (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), continues on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles — a place the Steelers haven't won in since 1965 — and ends with a Black Friday home showdown against the Denver Broncos. The September meeting went Pittsburgh's way, 30-27 at Acrisure Stadium, so a win in the rematch would give the Steelers the season sweep and the head-to-head tiebreaker. A loss would hand Cincinnati the tiebreaker and flip the race on its head. Thursday night's Jacksonville win over Baltimore already cost Pittsburgh a seed — the Steelers dropped from No. 3 to No. 4 in the AFC — a reminder that in a crowded conference race, the tiebreakers are already in play. Projection: If Warren keeps his current pace, he finishes north of 1,400 rushing yards — a career year by a wide margin. If Pittman returns after the bye and the passing game finds any consistency, this team has the profile of a legitimate division winner. But if the Bengals win in Madrid on Sunday and then take the rematch, Pittsburgh's path to the AFC North title gets considerably harder, and the trade deadline decisions Khan makes on Tuesday will be judged against that result. Also tonight: the Penguins (5-9-2) visit the Los Angeles Kings (5-7-2) at 9 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena, riding a four-game losing streak into a road swing that continues Sunday night in Anaheim. The bye week is a breather. What comes after it is the season — and Sunday morning in Madrid is where it starts to take shape.