Zac Taylor offers a glass-half-full look at the NFL isolating the Bengals' Week 18 game vs Steelers
The NFL scheduled the Cincinnati Bengals to play their do-or-die matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers for a standalone start time at 8pm ET Saturday night. The league tries its best to create as much drama as possible in Week 18 by cramming nearly every game into the Sunday slate, but there will always be a couple […]
The NFL scheduled the Cincinnati Bengals to play their do-or-die matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers for a standalone start time at 8pm ET Saturday night. The league tries its best to create as much drama as possible in Week 18 by cramming nearly every game into the Sunday slate, but there will always be a couple isolated games when there's something on the line.
The Bengals can only make the playoffs with a win, which is enough for the dramatic side of things, but they won't know if they're in until 24 hours after they kickoff.
Cincinnati needs the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Denver Broncos and the New York Jets to beat the Miami Dolphins Sunday afternoon in order for a potential win over Pittsburgh to matter.
Head coach Zac Taylor believes not having to worry the other games at the same is a positive for his team.
"I don't think that's the worst thing. There's no distractions there," Taylor said. "We're all human, and so I understand the things that could happen if they were all at the same time. And so I do think that's probably a positive for us that we're just going to play by ourselves and focus on Pittsburgh, and that's all we can do."
Control what you can control. It's a mantra used by every coach who's ever lived, but that doesn't mean Taylor is wrong here. Nothing on Sunday matters if Saturday doesn't end with a Bengals victory. That's the first of three equally challenging and important steps for a trip back to the playoffs.
Not only is Saturday's tilt a divisional game against a team locked in for the playoffs, it will be the Bengals' fifth road primetime game of the season, which will set an NFL record. AFC North teams are 2-13 when playing a road primetime game against another team in the division since 2019 as well.
All of that is a lot for the Bengals to overcome. Their focus can only be on the task at hand. Whatever happens the next day, happens.
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