Young Cincinnati Bengals continue to grow up

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Sep 16, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) is sacked by defensive end Wallace Gilberry (95), defensive end Carlos Dunlap (96) and defensive end Michael Johnson (93) during the third quarter at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /

The Cincinnati Bengals were finally able to exercise their demons against the Pittsburgh Steelers and get a rare home win over Big Ben, who lost just his third game in state of Ohio since coming to the NFL in 2004. While no one will mistake the Steelers team for one of their two championship teams over the past seven years, any win over them and getting off to a 1-0 start in the AFC North is big.

It was also the second-straight win over Pittsburgh after last year’s epic road win knocked them out of the playoffs, and with them sitting at 0-2 now, the Bengals may very well have killed their playoff hopes once again.

Starting defensive end Michael Johnson knew “finishing the play” was the biggest key to the win, and the defense did just that:

"“We talked about that earlier in the week that it was going to be a tough, physical game. That’s what it was. We were able to finish. We were in the same position we were in last week, where we were up and they kind of hung around. But this week, we were able to put our foot down and shut the door on them.”"