The Cincinnati Bengals heard all of the praise this week after starting 2-0, but once again fell short of 3-0 as they fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 30-27.

Two weeks of football would’ve had you believe this defense was completely fixed. They are now plenty of questions regarding the secondary in the pass rush. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers look like a past version of himself, and two horrendous mistakes on special teams ultimately cost them this one.

Here are a few winners and many losers from Cincinnati’s first loss of the year.

Winners from Bengals’ 30-27 loss against Steelers in NFL Week 3

WRs Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins

Chase and Higgins for sure showed up. The duo combined for 15 reception 188 yards and two touchdowns. Higgins caught his first score of the season, impressively boxing out cornerback Asante Samuel Jr.

NT Dexter Lawrence II

The Bengals defense was reeling all game, but Lawrence’s first two sacks of his Bengal’s career came in very clutch moments in the fourth quarter to force to field goals. They needed a clone of him to stop the run in this one unfortunately.

Losers from Bengals’ 30-27 loss against Steelers in NFL Week 3

DE Cedric Johnson

Not only did Johnson come back down to earth as a pass rusher from last week, his roughing the punter penalty late in the third quarter extended a Steelers drive that ended in a touchdown. Special teams are still where Johnson is going to play the majority of the time, and that was a crucial mistake in an effort to be aggressive.

WR Ke’Shawn Williams

This was Williams’ first game of the season and it’s probably gonna be his last. He was uninspiring as a kickoff returner and muffed his only punt return of the game that was recovered by the Steelers, giving them an additional three points.

CB Dax Hill

Hill redeemed himself a bit on what should’ve been the defense’s final drive of the day, but losing so badly on a crossing route that you run into your own quarterback to allow a touchdown is pretty inexcusable. It was overall a rough day for one of Cincinnati’s starting cornerbacks.

NT T.J. Slaton Jr.

This was one of Slater’s worst games as a Bengal, and it came against what should’ve been an ideal matchup. Pittsburgh interior offensive line went through changes this week, and yet Slaton was getting pushed back in the run game constantly.

DEs Myles Murphy, Boye Mafe

Just did not hear enough from these two. Mafe’s strong start to the season came to a crashing halt as the only generated one pressure. Murphy was able to get a sack but it was called back due to a penalty. If these guys couldn’t get home, they needed to get their hands up in the pass game. Not enough.

Gs Dylan Fairchild, Dalton Risner

While he had his moments in the run game, Fairchild was the weak spot of the Bengals offensive line. He allowed a near sack on a crucial third down in the fourth quarter, letting all pro defensive tackle Cameron Heyward make a game-changing play.

The next drive had Risner making the critical error, giving up a quick win which forced the only sack of the day on Burrow which was also a strip-sack. The game ended.

Cincinnati’s offensive line protected well for nearly 60 minutes, but couldn’t hold up when it really mattered.