BENGALS 25, STEELERS 20

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Bengals win one to grow on

Monday, October 12, 1998

BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Carl Pickens set a team record with 13 catches. This one - a 50-yarder on fourth down - kept the final drive alive. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

The Bengals can't win games in October. They're not expected to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers anytime. And no team on any level should be able to drive 93 yards for the winning score with less than two minutes remaining and no time outs left.

But the Bengals accomplished all this Sunday with their 25-20 victory over the Steelers before a crowd of 59,979 that was divided in its loyalty and united in its disbelief.

Carl Pickens caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Neil O'Donnell with 14 seconds left to erase Cincinnati's 20-18 deficit and conjure ambitious thoughts. Maybe, some Bengals mused, this could be the win that helps turn around an otherwise forgettable decade.

"It can do a lot," said linebacker James Francis, who has lived through the team's nauseating descent from glory during his nine-year career. "This is the type of game that you can get momentum from, and just go and go and go. Hopefully that will happen."

At the very least, it was a rarity:

Pickens steps over Steelers CB Dewayne Washington for the winning TD. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

Cursed by slow starts since their malaise began in 1991, the Bengals notched only their third October victory (against 24 defeats) since that year.

"It prevents us from going 1-7 again. That's the main thing," said a grinning right tackle Willie Anderson, referring to the Bengals' abysmal getaways in the '90s.

They beat Pittsburgh, a 2 1/2-point favorite and the only AFC Central Division foe to sweep them last season, for only the third time in 15 games since '91.

Pickens had 13 catches to break the franchise single-game record of 12 he shared with James Brooks. Pickens' 204 yards, which included a 50-yarder on a fourth-and-12 play that breathed life into Cincinnati's last-ditch drive, was the third-most prolific receiving effort in team history.

O'Donnell fashioned a keepsake that he'll likely cherish only in private moments, since he refused to gloat over shredding his former team for three touchdowns and 298 yards.

Neil O'Donnell celebrates the victory. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

"I tip my hat to every one of those guys," said O'Donnell, who's still reviled for throwing two second-half interceptions with Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XXX. He was 20-of-26 passing Sunday.

When a perennially downtrodden team that has shown hints of revival wins in this fashion, it's tempting to read deeper meaning into the victory. Though the Bengals avoided forecasts of greater success, they insisted that their first win at home wasn't an aberration.

"We've been through what-ifs before," center Darrick Brilz said. "I think we're finally developing the attitude that we can win every week."

Asked if this game could help his team, the AFC's youngest, forge an identity, Bengals coach Bruce Coslet said: "I think in our mind, we've found it. I've been telling you that we're a different team, but these guys believe and they don't give up."

Darnay Scott makes one of his two TD catches. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

The glow from this victory will fade quickly if the Bengals (2-3) lose next Sunday at Tennessee, which occupies last place in the AFC Central with them and Baltimore.

"It's something we can build on but can't take for granted," left tackle Kevin Sargent said. "We have to continue to work on what we need to work on."

The Bengals looked like losers again as Pittsburgh grabbed a 10-0 second-quarter lead. Norm Johnson kicked a 40-yard field goal and quarterback Kordell Stewart, who hadn't gained more than 13 yards on any carry this season, zipped down the right sideline for 56 yards to set up Jerome Bettis' 13-yard touchdown run.

Bettis, who had rushed for more than 100 yards against Cincinnati in four consecutive games, was sidelined late in the second quarter with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

Doug Pelfrey's 44-yard field goal and Darnay Scott's 44-yard scoring reception from O'Donnell matched the Steelers, but Greg Truitt's one-hop snap foiled the conversion attempt following the touchdown, saddling Cincinnati with a 10-9 halftime deficit. Truitt's miscue haunted the Bengals into the fourth quarter.

Corey Dillon rushed for 99 yards. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

Trailing 17-12, they regained possession shortly before the third quarter ended by holding Richard Huntley, Bettis' replacement, to a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-2. O'Donnell's 30-yard touchdown pass to Scott with 13:38 to go ended an instant four-play, 60-yard drive, but the Bengals' 18-17 edge forced them to try a two-point conversion pass that O'Donnell nearly threw into Section 167.

Johnson's second 40-yard field goal with 1:56 left put Pittsburgh ahead 20-18 and appeared to finish the Bengals, who were forced to begin their final drive at their 7-yard line with 1:52 to go after a holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff.

O'Donnell's 5-yard pass to Eric Bieniemy and an offside penalty on Pittsburgh end Kevin Henry gave Cincinnati a first down at the 17. Two incompletions later, O'Donnell passed to Bieniemy for minus-2 yards, setting up the crucial fourth-and-12 play from the 15.

Then Pickens, operating one-on-one against Dewayne Washington, outmaneuvered the Steeler cornerback to snare O'Donnell's long heave on a simple streak route in front of the left sideline. Pickens ran out of bounds at Pittsburgh's 35, stopping the clock with 48 seconds left.

"I probably should have backed up a little more on that," Washington said. "He just went up and made a great catch."

Bengals fans get to celebrate, too (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

Two runs by Corey Dillon, who finished with 99 yards on 23 carries, gave the Bengals another first down at the 25, bringing them within field-goal range. But the clock was still running as less than 30 seconds remained.

O'Donnell barked the play -- "Clock-clock" -- to his scrambling teammates. That gave him the option to spike the ball to stop time or throw a pass. He took Brilz's snap from shotgun formation and briefly looked to his right toward wide receiver Darnay Scott before flinging the ball toward Pickens, who was running another streak pattern on Washington.

Though O'Donnell didn't appear to fake a spike -- as Miami quarterback Dan Marino did before throwing a touchdown pass to defeat Coslet's New York Jets in 1994 -- everybody on the field seemed to expect O'Donnell to spike the ball.

"Usually you block for a second, then you hear "thump' (the ball hitting the ground)," Anderson said. "I didn't hear anything. I wondered if he fumbled the ball. But if he did, their defense would be running around. They were frozen."

Said Sargent: "It was the weirdest kill-the-clock thing I've ever seen."

Pickens leapt for the ball at the 5-yard line as Washington pawed at him and side judge Dave Wyant threw his flag to signal pass interference. As Washington stumbled, Pickens made the catch, and tiptoed the last few feet into the end zone while staring disdainfully at his fallen antagonist.

"I saw Neil looking over to Darnay's side. Nothing was going on," said Pickens. "So I just took off toward the end zone.

"He threw it up there with some air in it so I could come down with it . . . (Washington) was in the right position for me to make the play. It was easy because . . . everything was going together. The ball was high, the guy was behind me. The only thing I had to do was catch the ball."

Said Coslet, "I don't think they (the Steelers) were ready for the play, and that's probably why it worked."

The Bengals would prefer to think that from now on, they're ready for anything.

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Bengals' sure thing is Pickens
TD pass surprises everyone
O'Donnell gets last word
Carter at odds with Bengals
Steelers smoked on "D'
Notebook: No snap decision on replacing Truitt
Game statistics