Even though Marvin Lewis said that Carson Palmer has a slight chance, he's likely out against Baltimore, which prompts the reoccurring question, "what's the point?"

Robert Geathers and David Jones left Pittsburgh with hyperextended knees while Frostee Rucker suffered a hamstring injury.

Anthony Collins had six offensive snaps before Thursday night's game. Note: I think he's a keeper. Jayhawk fans take notice.

The offensive line came through, writes C. Trent -- I'd argue that not opening running lanes doesn't constitute as "coming through." However, because of the much improved performance by the line's pass protection, aided by quick drops, the Steelers picked up their first sack with 1:11 left in the first half -- it was their only sack.

The Bengals "'B' team made it entertaining for a couple of hours".

Save for Big Ben, most Steelers think that Crocker's hit deserves a fine. Whatever.

"We know we're not going to bully our way out of Cincinnati. It's going to be Mike Brown's way or no way at all. It's going to be up to Mike Brown. He's going to decide whether or not Chad's going to be with the team in the future and we're going to basically take a low-key approach to that."
- Drew "Oil Slick" Rosenhaus

Houshmandzadeh won't make the Pro Bowl because of the team he's on.

Chad Johnson not showing up isn't one of the reasons they lost Thursday. Chad Johnson not showing up is one of the reasons the Bengals have nine losses this season.

Andre Caldwell is the younger brother of Reche Caldwell.

Solomon Wilcox with Marvin Lewis after the game.

"It's not a shock to say that we have to make some changes for the future for me to remain here."
- Marvin Lewis with Thomas George of NFL.com

It's an interesting thing to say, no doubt. No one in their right mind would refute Lewis further, knowing that this team's front office structure is awful, with players that are above the team. For six seasons, Lewis has worked hard at changing the losing culture with this team by reiterating a team-first blue-collar attitude. It's a work in progress that's stalling within the first stage. "We've got some guys who have a 30-second mindset," Lewis said. "They get it. For 30 seconds. Then it's on to something else. We have had too many guys pick and choose when they are going to work on a play. Some actually think they are smart enough to pick and choose. It's an attitude adjustment. We need a difference."

Some would argue that it's Lewis' leadership that would make the difference, provide the attitude adjustment. Then we're reminded about monsters like Chad Johnson that were enabled, allowed to grow beyond the parameters of control.

I also believe that the quote isn't an ultimatum, as others are suggesting. He's not threatening to leave, simply stating the obvious that the players he has, the front office support (meaning the lack of football-minded executives), will accumulate to his eventual Cincinnati demise. Lewis was asked about it after the game and clarified his point. "We need to change how were getting things done. Playing, I'm not talking about anything other than that. I don't think when I spoke with Thomas, I didn't mean anything other than that context. We need to make sure that we continue to develop our guys and do a good job of coaching and playing. He was talking about overall. Just the future."

The original quote was so vague that conclusions could be based on several avenues. The front office needs to change things; actually selling the team, getting the family out, is the ONLY acceptable change. The roster needs change, though we remember Lewis saying at the end of last season that the roster needs to blow up. Change wasn't on the team's off-season itinerary, based on the fact that we muffed an opportunity to acquire high-round draft picks with a declined trade offer from the Washington Redskins.

Late last month, I was interviewed on Fan House and I made a point that I believe details the demise of the Mike Brown Bengals clearly. I wrote:

The most noticeable aspect with Mike Brown isn't his business sense – though one could argue that in order to have a successful business the key isn't cost cutting, rather a quality product. However, for a time Mike Brown was an apprentice, under his father Paul Brown, designing the business aspects of the newest team in the AFL. Fundamentally responsible for how the game is played today, Paul Brown's brilliance came with building championship football teams through the draft; while his son Mike, took to the business side of things.

Remaining steadfast without the background of scouting talent like his father, or the modesty of incorporating personnel that specialize in talent evaluations, Mike failed to fill the void left after his father's death; believing he could judge talent equal to his father. I believe that Mike Brown is truly over his head, without the experience his father had judging talent and building championship-caliber football teams.

The team kept its business sense, with a sound-minded financial owner that failed to replace the brilliance, judgment and mind of his own father. In terms of making money, he's doing the proper job as any business owner. However, his profits aren't likely to rise, and his revenue during our falling economy will be reduced. In the end, it's the same argument. A man in the front office given the power to direct and distribute responsibilities for finding talent and developing a philosophy to develop around. Based on egoism, ignorance and selfishness, I don't expect that to change.

Even the comments on this site slowed down in the third quarter as it became evident that Bengals were done, having nothing to offer the Steelers defense (or fans for that matter). The Bengals ran 23 plays, picking up 33 total yards between the second and third quarter. Watching Ryan Fitzpatrick was painful -- blame him or other factors if you will, his production was dreadful.

Between the two quarters, the Bengals called 11 more passes than rushes, a formula that has worked with Carson Palmer. Neither rushing nor efficient passing showed up between the second and third quarters, where the offense recorded one first down; compared to the Steelers 261 yards total and 13 first downs.

Admittedly, Fitzpatrick received no help on the play-calling because the rush offense went to lunch and it didn't seem beneficial to run the football, forcing Fitzpatrick to lead the offense; which he's not talented enough to do on his own.

During this stretch, the Bengals recorded five three-and-outs and a four-play turnover on downs after the Bengals were given a gift from my newest buddy Limas Sweed.

The problem with the offense all season has been the inability to consistently sustain drives. Where they score a touchdown, the opposition responds and the Bengals offense goes into a three-and-out funk. There's several reasons, of which you can't fully blame Bob Bratkowski (though he deserves a large share of the blame). Ryan Fitzpatrick has been awfully disappointing, while some people keep talking up his improvements, he's still ineffective with an arm so weak that defenses are comfortable stacking the line of scrimmage neutralizing the rush offense. His reaction and release are very slow, allowing defenses to recover when our receivers have space, and his legs often prevents his eyes from looking downfield. Furthermore, the offense is so terrible that when they miss their opportunities (looking at you, Glenn Holt), they can't recover the impossible task of coming from behind.

Having quarters like the second and third against the Steelers Thursday night is exactly what kills the Bengals every week. Failure to convert third downs by not gaining yards on first and second are largely notable, considering that longer to-go situations on third down detail every problem facing this offense; ineffective quarterback, ineffective offensive line, ineffective play-calling. Injuries have hurt us, and it's very clear that the depth on this team, complicates the team's performance. Starters for every team get hurt and miss time. When the starters go down for the Bengals, the backups that come in are largely ineffective, accumulating to an embarrassing product that we continuously put on the field this season.

As expectations go, the Bengals both fulfilled and exceeded them, providing relative questions with typical answers; such as, "we're going to lose" and "how badly would we lose?" Losses are are an eventuality with the Cincinnati Bengals, ranging from 21-point leads obliterated by 42 points allowed in the second half, or simply ineffective offenses (actually severely incompetent and inept) that spend time on the bench deep in states of meditation, contemplation, mindlessly wondering how their next three-and-out will look.

Some called last night tough, a slow death, scrappy early, confusing. After the Bengals scored their touchdown in the first quarter on an 11-play, 62-yard drive that had this blogger cluelessly wondering if we'd pull it off saying things like "we came to play", the Bengals went:

There's things I don't understand, though my comprehension of basic football stuff is often challenged by coaches. Why did the Bengals rush Chris Perry on third down (or at all)? Why did the Bengals kick a Field Goal late in the fourth quarter, down by 13 points with seven minutes left in the game? "In hindsight after they take the ball and drive it down the field," Lewis said during his post-game opening comments to avoid the question, "it doesn't look very good taking the field goal there but I thought we had an opportunity kicking the ball off to have a play we had with that and get them stopped and get the ball back to the offense again and kind of hold their position there. But obviously when they drive and score it doesn't work out that way."

Right. As shown in the drive chart above, even if the Bengals had multiple possessions, guided by our tiring defense late in the game, there was absolutely no reason to believe the Bengals would drive on the Steelers two more times, like the 11-play 37-yard drive that scored a field goal. The team left four points on the field easing the scoring differential at the end of the game.

We're not tough, might as well punt on third-and-short. Blaming the game on a bad decision to kick a field goal that made all of us conclude that Lewis was giving up, reducing the deficit for better box score numbers, is short-sided. Third downs murdered this team, which is partly blamed on Ryan Fitzpatrick staring down his receiver, Glenn Holt dropping easy critical third down receptions and play calling that forced Chris Perry to convert on a dive, against guys like Casey Hampton with ineffective centers like Eric Ghiaciuc.

With 8:18 left in the second quarter on third-and-one at the Cincinnati 48-yard line, Chris Perry took the handoff and ran off Bobbie Williams. James Farrior and LaMarr Woodley stuffed Perry at the line of scrimmage forcing the Bengals to punt. On the two plays before, Cedric Benson rushed for nine yards behind Andrew Collins and Nate Livings; including a 7-yard pickup on second down. So after successive runs that gained more than the required yardage on third down by rushing Benson to the left, why do you rush Perry to the right?

Then again, Benson's number was called with 14:26 left in the fourth quarter on third-and-one, and was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage. Bengals punt. It's painfully obvious to opposing teams when the Bengals are stuck with third and short, their tendencies. Twice the Bengals needed only one yard on third down, and twice they were forced to punt afterwards. On the other hand, the Steelers had a third-and-one with 7:31 left in the second quarter, rushed up the middle and picked up six yards. Night and day depending on wins and losses, characterizes how far apart these teams perform.

It was the third downs that killed this team, converting an embarrassing 26% (4/15) that forced the defense to play nearly 11 more minutes than the offense.

Game: Cincinnati Bengals (1-8-1) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3)
Series Leader: Steelers, 46-30
Streak: Steelers won the past four.
Coaches vs. Opponent: Lewis: 3-9. Tomlin: 3-0
Broadcast: NFLN (8:00 PM ET): Bob Papa, Cris Collinsworth. Westwood One Radio: Ian Eagle, Boomer Esiason, Hub Arkush (Field reporter). SIRIUS: 124 (WW1), 126 (Cin.), 127 (Pit.). XM: 124 (WW1), 102 (Cin.), 103 (Pit.).
SB Nation: Behind the Steel Curtain
NFL.com: Game Center
Weather: Temperature 33, light winds and light snow showers [Weather.com]
Uniform: White
Television Coverage: NFL Network or inside the cities the game is played.
Site: We plan on being here.

It showed up in my news feed this morning. Chad Johnson deactivated. There was no reason for it, it was written, so we weren't sure what happened; just that he violated team rules. Two thoughts came to mind: 1) This will dominate the headlines, putting the Bengals into another welcome spotlight and 2) That trade proposal with the Redskins, or anything like that in the future, is long gone.

Adam Schefter wrote that Chad Johnson got into it with someone. Brad Johansen wrote that he overslept and missed a team meeting. Chris Mortensen reported that Chad Johnson got into a verbal confrontation with a coach. Yes, his vague discovery came nearly five hours after the reports surfaced, in an effort to "report it".

Jay Glazier details the best yet.

A few local reports have surfaced that alleged that the receiver overslept and arrived late for a team meeting Wednesday night at the Bengals practice facility. Sources confirmed Ocho Cinco arrived late and was extremely groggy. After taking his seat, Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski told Ocho Cinco to sit up straight in his seat. After the receiver refused, Bratkowski again repeated his demand.

At that point, Ocho Cinco stood up and walked out of the meeting altogether. After shouting at his player to return, Lewis chased him down and lashed into the former All-Pro -- finally telling Johnson to go home.

This absolutely conflicts with what Johansen wrote on his blog, that Johnson was "begging" Lewis to play against the Steelers. Johansen made it sound like Lewis suspended Johnson for the game, and Johnson accepted it, appreciated it and understood it. However, Glazer's report suggests Johnson was disobedient from the start with an attitude that would obviously get him into trouble (did character-suicide campaign resume?), walked out of the team meeting after Bob Bratkowski told him to sit up straight. Johnson left the meeting and Lewis tracked him down, eventually telling him to just go home.

Depending on the sources associated with the published reports, different scenarios could emerge. If Glazer is more accurate, Johnson could find himself suspended for the rest of the season -- ala Eagles and Terrell Owens. This blogger would support it too. Based on Johansen's report, it's fair to say that this will be a one-time incident, done and (not likely) forgotten. Hobson confirms, based on indications (can one confirm based on assumptions?), that Lewis did most of the shouting during their "shouting match".

In the end, Adam Schefter's report is probably the one you want to hang on right now. It doesn't detail much, like the conflicting reports above, simply stating that "Johnson got into it last night with someone in the Cincinnati organization and left a team function." Though it's hard to ignore Glazer's report.

Thank god we're playing Thursday night. We'll need the entire weekend just to sort this all out.

UPDATE: Another conflict. Ken Broo said during Channel 5's "Ready to Roar" one-hour pregame show that Chad Johnson actually feel asleep during the team meeting; no acknowledgment that he was late to the meeting. However, he recapped exactly what Glazer said. Bratkowski told Chad to pay attention, and Johnson "stormed out".

UPDATE II: A Jesus moment. After posting this piece and reading something else, I did a Google News search on Chad Johnson. My post came up six minutes after I published it. When I saw that, I said Jesus. Hence, my Jesus moment. That is all for this update.

In case you didn't know, Chad Johnson won't play tonight.

Moving on.

NFL Films (via NFL.com) reminds us that the Steelers 38-10 win over the Bengals, wasn't the beating that the score indicated; remembering seven points on a necessary 16-yard touchdown pass with two minutes left in the game for a 28-point lead (dude, Barbaro is dead... all right). They write after watching the coaches tape, that "it's clear that Thursday night's score won't be as gruesome as you might think."

In truth, the Bengals defense was spotty early in the season, got really bad against the Texans, but generally improved against the Jaguars and Eagles during their undefeated in November string, allowing less than four years per rush, and less than six yards per pass. Though not really impressive, it's not just the yards they're referencing; NFL Films documents two plays of a 17-10 Steelers lead heading into the fourth quarter that changed the complexion of the game.

After Lawrence Timmons sacked Ryan Fitzpatrick, forcing the Bengals to punt, Ben Roethlisberger completed a 50-yard touchdown pass that "broke the game open". They write:

1. Nickel cornerback Geoffrey Pope, the rookie that Washington ran by, is no longer on Cincinnati's active roster.
2. The Bengals did not blitz on the play and Roethlisberger had a clean pocket.
3. With plenty of time to throw, the Steelers were able to get multiple receivers deep, putting free safety Chinedum Ndukwe in a conflict.

They make an additional point, after watching the Eagles tape.

1. The Bengals are blitzing more and blitzing better.
2. Their nickel corner is no longer rookie Geoffrey Pope but rather veteran Jamar Fletcher.

I believe, for a chance to win, the Bengals will need to stop Willie Parker and create turnovers to give the offense good field position. We're not going to drive 10 plays, 80 yards on the Steelers defense; I'm as much a homer as anyone, but I'm also realistic. However, if we create turnovers, specifically on their side of the field, the Bengals can cash those gifts as field goals, if not touchdowns. OK, field goals.

NFL Films isn't taking other things into account, like injuries, rookies and three days rest after a gruesome 75-minute football game that ended in an Eagles-wrecking tie. So take it as it is. Will the Bengals play like they have nothing to lose, or will the sudden Chad Johnson distraction take center stage? Yes. If you looking for positives, well, that's a start.

UPDATING SLEEPY CHAD: It would seem that Schefter's version of getting into with someone in the organization and leaving a team meeting was slightly off. When someone gets into it, we don't think it's management applying team rules; we're thinking that civility is abandoned and total Mad Max anarchy explodes. The dude overslept and missed a team meeting. Brad Johansen writes:

Chad Johnson will be deactivated from the game tonight for being late to an 8:30 p.m. meeting last night after arriving from Pittsburgh. Chad told the coaches that he overslept and begged Marvin Lewis to play this evening but was told that he has to be abide by the same rules that everybody else on the team has to abide by and that when rules are broken there are consequences. Chad said no matter how hard he tried to convince the coach to play he understands the ruling. Johnson was dealing with a swollen right knee that he injured Tuesday in practice and was having difficulty running on Wednesday but was still planning to play Thursday night.

UPDATE II: Oil Slick Speaks! (for those of you new to the site, Oil Slick is in reference to Chad Johnson's agent, Drew Rosenhaus -- or as The Walrus calls him, RosenSATAN

“Certainly I’ve spoken with Chad and one thing I’m not going to do is get into the team’s policies. They’ve decided not to reveal what the team infraction is and I respect that. And on Chad’s behalf, we’re not going to release that information. The bottom line here, where I came on at ESPN’s request, is simply that Chad is sorry that he will not be playing. There is not a meltdown in Cincinnati. He met with Coach Lewis as have I. I also spoke with Troy Blackburn of the Cincinnati Bengals organization. Chad is going to be rooting for the team tonight. He’s disappointed that he’s not playing. There is no controversy. He will be back. He will finish the season strong. He’s going to do everything he can to help the Bengals win the next five games that he will be able to play in.”

Of course, one has to wonder why Chad overslept an 8:30 p.m. meeting and why his roommates or best buddy T.J. didn't account for him beforehand; not that Chad needs a babysitter, but typically friends look out for each other. Is this a cover? And for those of you media-types that keep referencing Chad as Ocho _____ (fill in the blanks), that stopped being funny, like five months ago.

ORIGINAL: We're really not sure what could prompt the team to bench Johnson for Thursday's game, effectively a one-game suspension. It's further odd that Hobson described the team announcement as "terse". Sorry if I don't care for it, but the Bengals said they won't comment until after the game, which historically means they'll blow it off, downgrade whatever incident took place.

But it was an incident.

Adam Schefter writes, "Got a call early this morning that Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson got into it last night with someone in the Cincinnati organization and left a team function. Details were sparse and fluid and after reaching out to the Bengals, they released this statement:"

"Into it" could mean several things, ranging from arguments to full headlock maneuvers with the wide receivers coach. Either way, if the "into it" was physical, we may never see Chad Johnson in a Bengals uniform ever again. If it's just an argument, well, cooler heads could prevail. From the language used to announce this, and report it, I would vote for the former.

If you ask ten Bearcat fans what their biggest fear is, right now, it's a combination of two things. The short-term is losing to the Pitt Panthers on Saturday and our elimination from the BCS. The long-term is losing Brian Kelly to the vacant Tennessee Volunteers. Let's face facts, the University of Cincinnati is a stepping stone (see Mark Dantonio) towards greater football institutions, the SEC, the Big-12, the Big-10, the Pac-10, the ACC are all conferences that hold the top paying college head coaching positions in college football. Despite scoring a five-year contract with $1.8 million in raises back in January, the chances of him leaving for some of the bigger programs in the nation, I would project is high. Tennessee? Who knows. Daugherty says no, though others point out the UT job is prestigious (not just using this season as the job's reflection), and if the money is right and the job is offered... well. Kelly had no reaction.

Brian Bennett thinks that picking Tony Pike as the Big-East's second best quarterback will be "controversial". Then you look at Matt Grothe's sudden departure from being, arguably, the conference's best until he threw eight interceptions in the past three games, single-handedly taking South Florida out of early top-25 rankings. So Pike got #2.

Bearcats dismissed freshman wide receiver Nick Truesdell "for violating one of its rules."

It's generally believed that Saturday's UC/Pitt game will determine the Big East Champion, thus a BCS Bowl. And it very well could be. However, Scott Springer cautions that they still have to beat Syracuse. Previews here and here.