Week 15 Preview: Steelers Host Surging Bengals

The Pittsburgh Steelers need a miracle to get back to the playoffs in 2013. They lost their shot at the AFC North (though it was a bleak one) with a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in week 13, and now they’re one loss away from almost being eliminated from the playoffs.

Pittsburgh can still win out and hope for the other teams in the AFC wild card race to crumble. However, to even cling to those far-fetched hopes, they’ll need to even the season series with the Cincinnati Bengals in week 15.

Doing so won’t be an easy task, as the Bengals have proven to be one of the more balanced teams in the entire league, en route to a solid 9-4 start. A win over the Steelers in week 15 would get Cincy one step closer to a division title and a playoff spot. Sweeping the Steelers would just be the icing on the cake.

Even with the heated rivalry and playoff implications, however, this game comes in at just $82 on average this week, with a low get-in price tag of $18. Both Steelers tickets (-48%) and Bengals tickets (-44%) see a dive in price for this week’s game, and Pittsburgh not being up to part this year arguably has a lot to do with it.

Andy Dalton and the Bengals offense has it’s work cut out for them to get closer to wrapping up the division this week. The Steelers are a much better team than they were to start the season, while Dalton traditionally struggles inside the division.

The Bengals will need their own defense to step up and keep this game low-scoring, while the rest will inevitably come down to whether or not Dalton can get over the hump.