BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher had his jaw set like only he can and his eyes were set to burn through any questioner.
Did you think you had the Bengals beat when you had them fourth-and-12 from the 15-yard line with less than two minutes to go?
"What do you think?" Cowher shot back.
How do you assess your team's play before the fourth-and-12? "The bottom line in this business is finding ways to win," Cowher spit back. "I don't assess how I thought we played. The bottom line is we didn't win today."
More correctly, the bottom line is the Steelers' usually reliable defense gave the game away. It was a game the Steelers had just about counted as a win.
"You would think with two minutes left and them with no timeouts left, we'd be in good shape," cornerback Dewayne Washington said.
Certainly after the Steelers forced the Bengals into the fourth-and-12. But Bengal quarterback Neil O'Donnell threw a 50-yard pass to Carl Pickens, who went over Washington for the catch.
"It was a streak," Washington said. "It was a plain and simple play. I probably should have backed up more on that. He just went up and made a great catch. He (Pickens) went up higher than I did." Washington's rough day was not over.
Two plays later, O'Donnell came to the line and acted like he was going to spike the ball to stop the clock.
"That's what we were thinking," Washington said.
Said linebacker Levon Kirkland: "It was a good play. They caught us off guard."
Pickens ran another streak.
"He and O'Donnell must have made eye contact," Washington said."
Another jump ball, another big play by Pickens.
"That's the nature of the position," Washington said. "For most of the game I was covering Pickens one-on-one. I didn't come up with the play at the end."
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Game statistics