4 Bengals most to blame for ruining Christmas with embarrassing loss to Steelers

1. Jake Browning turned into a pumpkin at the worst time for the Bengals

Since taking over for Joe Burrow post-injury, Jake Browning had been one of the most fun stories in the NFL. The former Washington Huskies star had won his last three games to garner a 3-1 record as the starter and, overall, had thrown for 1,248 yards with seven touchdowns and only three interceptions since he was thrust into action.

We've seen it many times this season with backups starting out hot only to dramatically fall back to earth, and Browning was the latest victim of that on Saturday night in taking on the Steelers.

After looking solid enough in his first start, which was also a loss to Pittsburgh four weeks ago (19-of-26, 227 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT), Browning bettered his yardage total but that was the only thing that looked even good -- and that only looked that way in the box score.

Facing immense pressure, Browning seemed to be in a constant state of panic, which forced some egregiously bad decision making. He threw three interceptions on the night -- matching his season total in one game -- coughed up a fumble, even if the Bengals recovered, and essentially saw the game get out of hand before he started putting up some garbage-timey yardage.

Perhaps Browning can get back on relative track in the coming weeks as the Bengals still try to make it into the playoffs with their backup signal-caller. If he plays anything like he did, especially when he gets pressured, on Saturday in this loss, though, Cincinnati is going to almost certainly be watching the postseason from home.