Steelers vs. Bengals: Week 12 preview, by the numbers

The Cincinnati Bengals will play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12, set to play their first of two regular season matchups on the schedule for the 2023 season. Kickoff is set for Sunday, November 26 at 1 p.m. ET from Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, with each of these teams entering new eras. Now, let’s take a look at all things Steelers-Bengals in our full Week 12 game preview.

Steelers-Bengals Week 12 preview The Pittsburgh Steelers enter the week with a 6-4 record, ranked third in the AFC North and two and a half games behind the Baltimore Ravens, who lead the division at 8-3. The main story for the Steelers heading into the week, of course, is the firing of Matt Canada as the team’s offensive coordinator earlier this week. As the overall stats for the Steelers and Bengals would indicate, however, these two teams are relatively (and perhaps surprisingly), pretty well matched.

While on paper, the Bengals (5-5) have the much better offense (and, perhaps equally important — a better offensive coordinator in Brian Callahan, who’s been with the team since 2019), they’ve had their own struggles to this point in the season.

Steelers vs. Bengals: Head-to-Head Stats (2023)

Stat Steelers Bengals Stat Steelers Bengals Yards per game 280.1 298.7 Yards per play 4.7 4.8 Touchdowns 16 22 Giveaways 8 8 Penalties-Yards 55-465 50-427 D/ST touchdowns 2 2 Points allowed/gm 19.5 22.6 Yards allowed/gm 367.6 386.1 Turnovers/gm 1.9 1.8 Sacks 28 26 Burrow, in particular, was off to a slow start after suffering a calf injury on the second day of training camp which lingered well into the season, further aggravating the injury in Week 2 of the season. Now, they’ll have to figure out another way to keep it going as 27-year-old quarterback Jake Browning makes his first career start, unfortunately without one of his top receiving weapons, wide receiver Tee Higgins. In Higgins’ absence, they’ll look for increased involvement from WRs Tyler Boyd and Trenton Irwin.

Meanwhile, the Steelers offense has also struggled, averaging the fifth-fewest offensive yards per game this season, with their greatest struggles lying in the passing game as of late. Over the past three weeks, second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett has just 130 passing yards per game with just a single touchdown in that span.

The defenses are surprisingly equally comparable, both similarly skilled in generating turnovers, each ranked top-five among NFL teams in total turnovers per game.

Week 12 of the 2023 season marks the 106th regular-season meeting between the Steelers and the Bengals, with the Steelers holding 66-39 record in such games. In the eight games the Steelers and Bengals have played with Mike Tomlin and Zac Taylor as head coaches, respectively, they’ve split the series, each going 4-4. The Steelers have gone 2-2 on the road in Cincinnati in such matchups. Notably, the Steelers have gone 2-4 in their last six games against the Bengals, coinciding with the Joe Burrow era. The Steelers have played four games against an opposing quarterback making his first career start in the Mike Tomlin era (since 2007), having gone 4-0 in such games. In each of those games, the Steelers have held the opposing quarterback to a single passing touchdown with at least one interception. Steelers vs. Bengals: Odds & Betting splits Heading into the weekend, Steelers are installed as 2-point road favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook , with the line having moved one point in the Steelers’ favor since lines reopened on Sunday, November 19. The over/under is set at 36.5 points. Contributing to the odds, of course, is the absence of quarterback Joe Burrow and first career start for Jake Browning, as well as the Steelers’ recent struggles on offense.

All odds come courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook . Odds/lines are subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.