Upstart Bengals start pivotal stretch vs. Steelers

Associated Press

Cincinnati

A packed stadium. First place on the line in mid-November. The Bengals are used to this.

No, not the Bengals franchise. Pivotal games so late in the season are a rarity in Cincinnati. For this year’s Bengals, though, it’s not all that different.

A year ago, many of them were playing big games in packed stadiums on college campuses.

The young Bengals (6-2) seem undaunted by the turn their schedule takes starting Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-3), a team that annually turns Paul Brown Stadium into a place where Terrible Towels are as populous as tiger stripes. Pittsburgh has won eight of its last nine games in Cincinnati, a foreboding statistic.

They’re too young to think anything of it.

“That’s what I think is the biggest thing this year: The self-doubt’s not there,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “We’re not worried about what we played like in 2006, we’re not worried about what we played like in 2001, we’re not worried what they played like in 1982. We’re worried about how we play.

“We have a young team that’s starting their own legacy, their own beginning. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

A team led by rookie quarterback Andy Dalton has gotten a good start at it.

The Bengals are tied with Baltimore atop the AFC North. They’ve won five in a row, something they hadn’t done since 1988 — the last time they reached the Super Bowl. A win over the Steelers would tie the second-longest winning streak in franchise history.

Pretty heady stuff for the newcomers, right?

“I’ve been on some pretty good teams,” said Dalton, a second-round pick from TCU. “We definitely had some rivalries. Anytime we played a team that was from Texas, it was a big game. I definitely had some fun games in college against some of our conference opponents. Utah, BYU. It’s a little different now.”