Steelers survive Burrow, beat Bengals 30-27 on late Harmon strip-sack

     PITTSBURGH — Joe Burrow completed his first 13 passes Sunday and finished with a 123.9 passer rating. The Cincinnati Bengals lost anyway.

    Derrick Harmon knocked the ball loose from Burrow with under a minute to play and Sebastian Joseph-Day fell on it, ending a 30-27 Pittsburgh win at Acrisure Stadium that pushed the Steelers to 2-1 and into first place in the AFC North. Cincinnati fell to 2-1.

    A week after managing 235 yards in a 20-3 loss at New England, the Steelers gained 411. Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes, Jaylen Warren ran for 127 yards and Chris Boswell made all three field goal attempts, including the 33-yarder with 2:15 left that decided it.

    The difference started up front. Brock Hoffman and rookie first-round pick Max Ihanachor started on the right side of a reshuffled line, and Rodgers was not sacked in the first half after going down four times in Foxborough. He finished 19 of 34 for 292 yards with an interception and a 101.6 rating, and looked, for two quarters, like a much younger version of himself.

    The Steelers scored on their opening drive for the first time this season, Rodgers hitting Roman Wilson on a slot wheel route for a 38-yard touchdown 1:50 in. They added a 23-yard score to Ben Skowronek with 57 seconds left in the quarter — the first time Pittsburgh has put up more than seven points in an opening quarter since Week 1 of 2022.

    Cincinnati answered both. Burrow, who finished 28 of 37 for 282 yards and three touchdowns, marched 11 plays to a 3-yard touchdown to Ja'Marr Chase against Asante Samuel Jr., then tied it 34 seconds before halftime when Tee Higgins boxed out Samuel, bobbled the ball going down and secured a 28-yard score.

    Cincinnati got that possession at midfield after Rodgers' throw over the middle went through Roman Wilson's hands and was picked off with 1:46 left.

    Pittsburgh went into the locker room tied at 17, having converted four of five third downs. Patrick Queen already had 10 tackles.

    The Steelers played mostly zone, and Burrow spent the afternoon dismantling it, getting the ball out before the rush arrived. Cincinnati converted its first fourth-down attempt of the season on a 21-yard back-shoulder throw to Chase in the third quarter, and took a 27-24 lead early in the fourth when Mike Gesicki came open up the middle on fourth-and-2 for a 25-yard touchdown against busted coverage.

    What flipped it had nothing to do with either offense. Pittsburgh punted from midfield with 10:52 to play, Cincinnati muffed the catch, and Skowronek recovered at the Bengals' 9. Rodgers was sacked on third down and the Steelers settled for Boswell's 36-yarder, tying the game at 27 with 8:48 remaining.

    They got the ball back after Cam Heyward wrapped up Burrow on third-and-3 at midfield, then moved 58 yards — most of it on a 5-yard out route that Darnell Washington turned into a 47-yard gain, the Steelers' longest play of the season. Warren broke free on first-and-goal and tripped inside the 10. Three plays and another sack later, Boswell kicked the go-ahead field goal.

    Cincinnati reached the fringe of field goal range before Harmon got home.

    Warren, whose standing as a lead back has been questioned since camp, carried 17 times for 127 yards and caught three passes for 49 more without scoring. He opened the game with a 31-yard catch and ripped off a 35-yard run — Pittsburgh's longest of the year — on the first snap of a second-quarter drive.

    DK Metcalf caught a 6-yard touchdown in the third after two Cincinnati defensive backs collided on crossing routes, his first score of the season. It came in a game that also included two holding penalties on him, one of which erased a long Warren run.

    Boswell's 3-for-3 was its own correction. He had missed twice from beyond 50 in the first two weeks after missing twice from that range all of last season.

    Michael Pittman Jr. returned from a foot injury. Joey Porter Jr., still without a contract, missed his third straight game with a back injury. Rico Dowdle did not play.

    Pittsburgh visits Cleveland on Thursday night.

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