Deadline Eve: Steelers Come Off the Bye Tied Atop the AFC North — With the Bengals Waiting

The Pittsburgh Steelers did not play a snap this weekend, and they still lost ground. Not in the standings — they are still first in the AFC North — but in breathing room. The Cincinnati Bengals went to Madrid, beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-17, and pulled even with Pittsburgh at 6-2. The tiebreaker still belongs to the Steelers, who beat the Bengals already once this season and sit 2-1 in the division to Cincinnati's 1-1. But the cushion is gone, and on Sunday night the Steelers head to Paycor Stadium to settle it. That is the shape of this week: the NFL trade deadline lands Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, and then the biggest game of the Steelers' season so far arrives Sunday night. Head coach Mike McCarthy's team comes off its Week 9 bye at 6-2, riding a four-game winning streak, with a 42-year-old quarterback in Aaron Rodgers and a roster that has already spent some of its draft capital to get here. ## The bye-week scoreboard Pittsburgh could not have asked for a better Thursday night. The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Baltimore Ravens 33-10, Baltimore's fourth straight loss, dropping the Ravens to 4-5 and last in the division. Baltimore played without Lamar Jackson, and the team that was supposed to be the class of the North in August is now two and a half games behind the leaders. Sunday was a split. Cleveland lost 23-22 in overtime at New Orleans — Shedeur Sanders threw for 297 yards and two touchdowns starting for the injured Deshaun Watson, and the Browns matched a Saints overtime touchdown with 1:01 left, only for Sanders' two-point pass to fall incomplete. Cleveland falls to 5-4, two straight losses. Then Madrid. Joe Burrow went 24-for-29 for 271 yards and three touchdowns, adding a rushing score, as the Bengals beat the Falcons 34-17 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in front of 78,660 fans — a game briefly interrupted when the stadium lights went out with 1:58 left. Ja'Marr Chase caught 10 passes for 155 yards, Tee Higgins caught two touchdowns, and Cincinnati has now won four straight. **AFC North after Week 9:** 1. Pittsburgh 6-2 (2-1 division) · 2. Cincinnati 6-2 (1-1) · 3. Cleveland 5-4 · 4. Baltimore 4-5. If the season ended today, Pittsburgh would be the AFC's No. 4 seed and Cincinnati No. 6 — and they would meet again in the wild-card round. ## Sunday night decides first place Steelers at Bengals, Sunday, November 15, 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC from Paycor Stadium. The winner takes sole possession of first place, and a Pittsburgh win would do more than that: it would give the Steelers a season sweep and a one-game lead with seven to play, which is as close to a division lock as November gets. A Bengals win flips it the other way — Cincinnati first, on the tiebreaker, with the head-to-head split. Burrow is the problem, and Madrid was the reminder. The Bengals' passing attack is the hottest in the league right now, and Pittsburgh's secondary — rebuilt on the fly after the trade of Joey Porter Jr. to Dallas, with Jalen Ramsey, Asante Samuel Jr., Jamel Dean and Daylen Everette holding the group together — has not faced a quarterback playing this well since the bye. The Steelers' pass rush and their run game, which McCarthy has leaned on more heavily in recent weeks, are the counterweights. ## Deadline eve: buy, or trust the room? The trade deadline is Tuesday, November 10, at 4 p.m. ET, and the Steelers will not play another game before it. General manager Omar Khan has to decide on eight games of evidence. The need is no secret. Wide receiver is the position every report names: Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson are both on injured reserve, DK Metcalf leads the team's actual wide receivers with 378 yards — and has been, by most accounts, a disappointment — and the next closest is rookie Germie Bernard with 284. The names linked to Pittsburgh are Indianapolis' Josh Downs, who has reportedly asked for a trade with the Colts seeking roughly a third-round pick; Cleveland's Jerry Jeudy, in year two of a three-year, $52.5 million deal with an out after this season; Jacksonville's Brian Thomas Jr.; the Chargers' Ladd McConkey; Tennessee's Calvin Ridley; and the Giants' Darnell Mooney, on a one-year deal that would be easy to move. The pushback is just as loud. Longtime Steelers insider Gerry Dulac, asked during the bye week whether Pittsburgh would trade draft capital for a receiver, answered flatly: "They are not doing that. They already did that when they traded for Pittman." ESPN's Bill Barnwell reached a similar place from the other direction, calling the Steelers "already fully formed, for better or worse" and arguing the players who get them out of the wild-card round are already on the roster. McCarthy himself has pointed inside, praising tight end Darnell Washington as a growing solution. Khan has draft capital to spend — the Porter trade brought back a 2028 second-rounder and a 2027 sixth, and the Broderick Jones deal added more — but the tension is real: Rodgers is in what looks like his final season, and every pick spent now is one that cannot help the 2027 quarterback search. The sensible ceiling, if Khan does move, is a third-rounder for a real receiving upgrade and Day 3 picks for depth. A first-round splash would be out of character for this front office, and out of step with what Barnwell and Dulac are hearing. **Prediction:** Khan makes a modest move or none at all — a Day 3 addition for depth, or he stands pat and bets on Pittman returning after the bye and Washington's emergence. Either way, the deadline will not decide this season. Sunday night in Cincinnati will say far more. If the Steelers win there, the division race tilts decisively their way; if they lose, they will spend the second half chasing a Bengals team that just proved, 4,000 miles from home, that it can win anywhere. ## While the Steelers rested The Penguins lost the middle game of their California trip, 5-2 at Anaheim on Sunday night, a night after Crosby's milestone win in Los Angeles. Cutter Gauthier recorded his third hat trick in five games for the Ducks, and Pittsburgh's 5-on-3 power play came up empty in a game that slipped away early. The Pens 6-10-2) finish the trip Wednesday, November 11, at 10 p.m. ET against the San Jose Sharks.